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A  L  I'  H  ()  N  .^  K      \)  E    I.  A  M  A  R  T  1  N  V. . 


\ 


HISTORY 


OF  TEE 


FRENCH  REVOLUTION 


OF 


1848. 


BY  A.  DE  LAMARTINE. 


Quilibel  nautarum,  reclorumque  trancjuiUo  nmri  gubemare  potest:  ubi  s(Eva  ortu  tem- 
pestu  est,  ac  lurbato  mari,  vento  rapilur  navia,  turn  viris  opus  est. 

Address  of  Fabiua  to  the  Senatt, 


TRANSLATED   BY 

PRANCIS  A.  DURIVAGE  AND  WILLIAM  S.  CHASE. 

FIRST    AMERICAN    EDITION. 
IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 

VOL.    I. 


BOSTON: 
PHILLIPS,   SAMPSON  &  COMPANY. 

110   Washington   Street. 

1851. 


Entered  according  to  a:t  of  Congress,  in  the  year  IS49,  by 
PHILLIPS,   SAMPSON   &   CO., 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


Stereotyped    by 
HOBART  &  ROBBINS; 

NEW    ENGLAND    TYPE    AND    STEREOTYPE    FOtJNDBRT, 
B  O  S  T  O  ?«  . 


PUBLISHERS'  ADVERTISEMENT. 


The  announcement  of  a  History  of  the  Revolution  of  1848,  by  the 
author  of  Les  Girondins,  who  has  been  admired  as  the  hero  of  that 
great  event,  was  speedily  followed  by  the  publication  of  the  book  at 
Paris.  An  early  copy  of  the  work  having  been  placed  by  us  in  the 
hands  of  the  translators,  they  commenced  their  task  at  short  notice,  and 
under  a  pledge  of  rapid  execution.  Yet,  in  fulfilling  the  latter  con 
dition,  they  were  to  endeavor  conscientiously  to  avoid  injustice  to  the 
original.  As  far  as  possible,  they  have  aimed  to  render  every  phrase 
of  the  historian  by  its  equivalent  in  English,  and  not  a  line  of  his  has 
been  suppressed.  The  difficulties  encountered  can  be  fully  appreciated 
only  by  those  who  are  aware  how  completely  the  resources  of  ths 
French,  that  flexible  and  copious  language,  have  been  exhausted  by 
the  ingenuity  and  genius  of  Lamartine,  and  how  difficult  it  is  to  grasp 
some  of  his  poetical  and  philosophical  ideas  and  expressions. 

With  these  brief  remarks,  this  brilliant  contribution  to  the  histori- 
cal literature  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  submitted,  in  a  translated 
form,  to  the  candor  and  discerame  at  af  the  American  public. 

Boston,  August,  1849. 


131  1 4  i  5 


HISTOEY 

OF   THE 

REVOLUTION  OF  1848. 


BOOK    I. 


The  revolutions  of  the  human  mind  are  slow,  like  the  eras 
of  the  life  of  nations.  They  resemble  the  phenomena  of  vege- 
tation, which  enlarges  the  plant  without  the  naked  eye  being 
able  to  measure  its  growth  during  its  development.  God  has 
proportioned  this  period  of  growth,  in  all  beings,  to  the  period 
of  duration  which  he  assigns  them.  Men,  who  are  to  live  an 
hundred  years,  continue  growing  till  the  age  of  twenty-five, 
and  even  upwards.  Nations,  which  are  to  live  two  or  three 
thousand  years,  have  revolutions  of  development,  of  infancy, 
youth,  manhood,  and  lastly  old  age,  which  do  not  embrace 
fewer  than  two  or  three  centuries.  The  difficulty  with  the 
vulgar,  in  respect  to  these  convulsive  phenomena  of  popular 
revolutions,  is  to  distinguish  crises  of  growth  from  crises  of 
decadence,  youth  from  old  age,  life  from  death. 

Superficial  philosophers  herein  deceive  themselves  and  say  : 
such  a  nation  is  in  its  decadence,  because  its  old  institutions 
are  crumbling  to  pieces ;  it  is  sure  of  dissolution,  because  it  is 
growing  young.  This  opinion  was  ^pressed  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  French  revolution,  at  the  moment  when  absolute 
monarchy  expired.  It  was  heard  on  the  occasion  of  the  deca- 
dence of  feudality.  It  was  heard  on  the  fall  of  theocracy.  We 
hear  it  now  at  the  fall  of  the  constitutional  monarchy. 

This  is  an  error  ;  France  is  in  her  youth,  and  will  yet  em- 
ploy many  forms  of  government  before  exhausting  the  strong 
intellectual  life  with  which  God  has  endowed  the  French  race. 
Still  there  is  a  certain  method  of  avoiding  self-deception  with 
regard  to  the  character  of  these  crises,  and  it  lies  in  the  consid- 
1* 


2  HISTORY    OF    THE 

eration  of  what  is  the  element  which  predominates  in  a  revolu 
tion.  If  revolutions  are  the  product  of  a  vice,  or  a  personality, 
of  the  crimes  or  isolated  grandeur  of  one  man,  of  an  individual 
or  national  ambition,  of  the  rivalry  of  two  dynasties  aspiring  to 
a  throne,  of  a  thirst  for  conquest,  blood,  or  even  unjust  glory,  in 
the  nation,  particularly  of  hatred  between  classes  of  citizens ; 
such  revolutions  are  preludes  of  decadence,  and  signs  of  decom- 
position and  death,  in  a  human  race.  If  revolutions  are  the 
fruit  of  a  moral  idea,  of  a  reason,  a  logic,  a  sentiment,  an  aspi- 
ration towards  a  better  order  of  government  and  society,  even 
if  a  blind  and  deaf  one ;  of  a  thirst  for  development  and  perfec- 
tion in  the  relations  of  citizens  to  each  other,  or  of  the  nation 
to  other  nations  ;  if  they  are  an  elevated  ideal,  instead  of  being 
an  abject  passion ;  such  revolutions  exhibit,  even  in  their  catas- 
trophes and  transitory  errors,  a  strength,  youth  and  vitality, 
which  promise  long  and  glorious  periods  of  growth  to  races. 
Now  such  was  the  character  of  the  French  revolution  of  17S9 ; 
and  such  is  that  of  the  second  French  revolution  of  1848. 

The  revolution  of  1848  is  merely  a  continuance  of  the  former, 
with  fewer  elements  of  disorder,  and  more  elements  of  progress. 
In  both,  it  was  a  moral  idea  which  produced  the  explosion  in 
the  world.  This  idea  is  the  people  ;  the  people  who,  in  1798, 
freed  themselves  from  the  servitude,  ignorance,  privileges  and 
prejudices  of  absolute  monarchy ;  the  people  who,  in  1848,  freed 
themselves  from  the  oligarchy  of  a  small  number,  and  a  mon- 
archy representing  in  too  limited  a  manner  the  development  of 
right,  and  the  interest  of  the  masses  in  the  government.  Now 
whatever  difficulties  this  idea  of  the  people,  and  the  regular 
accession  of  the  masses  to  political  affairs,  a  democratic  phe- 
nomenon of  such  novelty,  may  present  to  statesmen,  this  idea, 
we  say,  being  a  moral  truth  with  every  evidence  for  the  mind 
and  heart  of  the  philosopher,  the  revolution  which  sustains  and 
agitates  this  idea  in  its  bosom  is  a  revolution  of  life,  and  not  a 
revolution  of  death.  God  lends  it  his  aid,  and  the  people  will 
emerge  from  it  increased  in  right,  strength,  and  virtue.  It  may 
falter  on  the  way,  through  the  ignorance  of  the  masses,  the 
impatience  of  the  people,  the  factions  and  sophistries  of  men 
wishing  to  substitute  their  personality  for  the  people  them- 
selves ;  but  it  will  end  by  removing  these  men,  by  detecting 
these  sophistries,  and  by  developing  the  germ  of  reason,  jus- 
tice, and  virtue,  which  God  has  sown  in  the  blood  of  the 
French  family.  7t  was  in  this  second  crisis  of  the  revolution 
of  our  country  that  I  bore  a  part,  and  which  I  will  now  attempt 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848. 


to  der.neate,  that  it  may  serve  the  people  by  showing  them  their 
own  iinage  in  one  of  the  noblest  hours  of  their  history,  and  that 
it  may  command  honor  for  our  time  in  the  ages  of  posterity. 

II. 

I  will  briefly  state,  what  others  will  recount  with  more  am- 
plification and  at  leisure,  the  causes  of  this  revolution.  I  hasten 
to  the  narrative. 

The  revo'ution  from  1789  to  1800  had  wearied  France  and 
the  whole  world  by  its  debates,  its  convulsions,  its  grandeur, 
and  its  crimes.  By  a  sad  but  natural  reaction,  France  had 
become  enamored  of  the  antithesis  of  liberty,  of  the  despotism 
of  a  soldier  of  genius.  I  employ  the  word  genius,  but  I  will 
explain  myself ;  I  mean  nothing  but  a  genius  for  victory  and 
a  genius  for  despotism.  Napoleon,  who  possessed  these  talents 
of  the  camp,  was  very  far  from  having  the  genius  of  society. 
Had  he  possessed  it,  he  would  have  made  the  revolution  march 
orderly  beneath  his  eagles.  He  made  it  recoil,  and  drove  it 
back  upon  the  middle  ages.  He  either  betrayed  his  age,  or  did 
not  comprehend  it.  His  reign  was  nothing  but  a  severe  disci- 
pline imposed  upon  a  nation.  He  was  to  France  what  fatality 
is  to  free  will,  an  adored  and  sublime  degradation,  but  still  a 
degradation.  A  nation  is  great  only  in  itself,  never  in  the 
greatness  of  him  who  crushes  in  ruling  it;  and  the  greater  Na- 
poleon became,  the  more  were  liberty  and  philosophy  belittled. 

After  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  the  exiled  brothers  of  Louis  XVI. 
returned,  somewhat  impressed  with  the  ideas  of  1789,  and  some- 
what prepared  for  liberty  by  their  long  sojourn  in  England 
among  a  free  people.  A  strange  but  astonishing  fact  was  the 
fall  of  the  counter-revolution  from  the  throne  with  Napoleon, 
achieved  by  the  hands  of  foreigners,  and  the  reentrance  into 
France  of  the  revolution  of  '89,  with  the  old  princes  of  the 
proscribed  race  of  Bourbons.  It  was  this  which  insured  them 
a  welcome  with  the  constitutional  charter  in  their  hands. 
France  recognized  there  the  doctrines  of  Mirabeau  and  the 
legacy  of  the  Constituent  Assembly.  Louis  XVIII.  observed 
it .  kilfuUy,  and  died  in  peace  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  idea 
of  89.  The  ancestral  memories  of  Charles  X.  were  too  vivid. 
He  thought  he  could  sport  with  the  charter  which  contained 
all  of  the  revolution  which  remained  in  France.  He  grew  old 
ard  died  in  exile,  involving  in  his  fate  his  grandson,  who  was 
pi  nished  in  his  cradle  'or  the  antiquated  ideas  and  mental  levity 
of  his  grandfather. 


4  HISTORY   OF   THE 

III. 

Louis  Philippe  of  Orleans  was  called  to  the  throne  as  the 
living  and  crowned  revolution  of  1789.  This  prince  yet  lives, 
but  there  is  as  wide  a  space  between  the  throne  and  exile  as 
between  life  and  death,  and  I  shall  speak  of  him  with  the  same 
freedom  as  if  he  had  ceased  to  exist.  Living,  I  did  not  flatter 
him.  I  held  myself  at  a  respectful  distance  from  his  kingdom  and 
his  favors ;  and,  exiled  and  dead  to  power,  I  will  not  insult  him. 
Exile  and  years  command  more  respect  than  even  the  grave, 
from  the  hearts  of  men.  France  had  the  right  to  suffer  him 
to  fall  from  the  throne.  History,  in  my  opinion,  will  have 
neither  the  right  of  hating  nor  that  of  disdaining  him.  The  man 
occupies  a  large  space  by  himself  in  his  reign,  and  his  reign 
will  fill  a  great  space  also  in  history.  There  is  nothing  so 
mean  as  to  dwarf  one's  enemies.  The  people  w^ho  have  suc- 
ceeded Louis  Philippe  have  no  need  of  this  subterfuge  of  kings, 
who  always  insult  their  predecessors.  The  people  are  great 
enough  to  measure  themselves  with  a  dethroned  king,  and  to 
concede  his  full  height  to  the  sovereign  they  have  displaced. 

IV. 

Louis  Philippe  of  Orleans  was  of  a  revolutionary  race,  though 
a  prince  of  the  blood.  His  father  had  plunged  into  the  most 
deplorable  excesses  of  the  Convention.  He  had  made  himself 
popular,  not  through  the  glory,  but  the  atrocity,  of  this  epoch; 
and  the  faults  of  the  father  were  the  pledges  of  the  son  in  the 
eyes  of  the  revolution  of  1830. 

Still  Louis  Philippe  was  too  honest  and  adroit  a  man  to 
redeem  the  sanguinaiy  promise  of  his  name  to  the  revolution 
which  proclaimed  him  king.  Nature  had  made  this  prince  a 
man  of  probity  and  moderation  ;  exile  and  experience  had  made 
him  a  politician.  The  difficulty  of  his  part,  as  a  prince  among 
democrats  and  democrat  among  princes,  in  the  commencement 
of  his  life,  had  rendered  him  supple  to  circumstances,  patient 
in  events,  and  temporizing  with  fortune.  He  seemed  to  fore- 
see that  destiny  owed  him  a  throne.  In  the  mean  while,  he 
«>njoyed  the  pleasures  and  virtues  of  family  relations  in  a  retired, 
modest,  and  irreproachable  domestic  life.  He  had  always  a 
tribute  of  respect  for  the  reigning  monarch,  and  a  smile  of  intel- 
ligence for  the  opposition,  without,  however,  encouraging  them 
])y  any  criminal  complicity.     Studious,  thoughtful,  and  exceed- 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S43.  5 

jngly  well  informed  on  all  points  touching  the  interior  admin- 
istration of  empires;  profoundly  versed  in  history;  a  diplomatist 
equal  to  Mazarinor  Talleyrand;  possessed  of  a  fluent  and  inex- 
haustible elocution,  which  resembled  eloquence  as  much  as 
conversation  can  resemble  oratory ;  a  model  for  husbands,  an 
example  for  fathers,  in  the  midst  of  a  nation  which  loves  to  see 
good  morals  seated  on  the  throne ;  gentle,  humane  and  peaceable; 
brave  by  birth  but  abhorring  bloodshed ;  it  might  be  said  that 
nature  and  art  had  endowed  him  with  all  the  qualities  which 
make  up  a  popular  king,  with  one  exception :  —  greatness. 


He  supplied  this  deficiency  of  greatness,  by  a  secondary 
quality,  which  minds  of  middle  stature  admire,  and  great  men 
despise ;  —  adroitness.  He  both  used  it  and  abused  it.  Some 
acts  of  this  political  adroitness  degraded  him  from  his  charac- 
ter to  tricks  which  would  have  been  censured  in  a  private 
individual.  What  was  it  in  a  king?  Such  was  the  dis- 
grace he  permitted  his  ministers  to  cast  upon  a  princess  of  his 
own  house.  The  Duchess  de  Berry,  his  niece,  contested  the 
throne  with  him ;  he  allowed  the  veil  to  be  torn  from  the  pri- 
vacy of  her  life  as  a  woman.  If  this  act,  the  most  immoral  of 
his  reign,  was  committed  to  prevent  the  effusion  of  blood,  and 
discountenance  civil  war,  we  must  pity  him  ;  if  it  was  tolerated 
by  personal  ambition,  we  must  stigmatize  him. 


^r>    V 


VI. 

Three  parties  were  in  agitation  round  his  throne  ;  the  repub- 
lican party,  whom  the  timid  indecision  of  Lafayette  had 
despoiled  of  the  republic  in  1830 ;  the  legitimist  party,  which 
adored  the  elder  branch  of  the  Bourbons  as  a  dogma,  and 
abhorred  the  younger  branch  as  a  profanation  of  the  monarchy; 
and  finally,  the  liberal  and  constitutional  party,  composed  of 
the  immense  majority  of  the  nation.  This  party  saw  in  Louis 
Philippe  the  li\'ing  bargain  between  royalty  and  the  republic, 
the  last  form  of  an  hereditary  dynasty,  and  the  last  hope  of 
monarchy. 

It  does  not  enter  into  our  plan  to  relate  how  this  prince 
assailed  the  republicans,  who  did  not  cease  to  conspire  against 
his  reign,  while  fanatics  plotted  against  his  life ;  how  he  an- 
nulled t)  3  legitimists,  who  remained  for  eighteeoi  ve<w«5  ia  an 


6  HISTORY    OF    THE 

attinde  of  mental  hostility  to  his  government,  notwithstand- 
ing his  patience  in  waiting  for  them ;  how,  finally,  he  manoeu- 
vred between  the  different  shades  of  the  constitutional  party, 
obtaining  from  them  sometimes  a  liberty,  sometimes  a  com- 
plaisance, and  ended  in  surrounding  himself  by  a  narrow 
oligarchy,  devoted  or  corrupt,  and  composed  of  blind  courtiers, 
pliant  public  functionaries,  and  electors  sold  to  his  fortunes. 

Master  of  parties  within,  inoffensive  and  obsequious  to  the 
foreigners  to  whom  he  sacrificed  all  to  obtain  the  tolerance  of 
his  dynasty ;  happy  in  his  family,  surrounded  by  sons  who 
would  have  been  eminent  citizens  if  they  had  not  been  princes, 
seeing  him  renewed  in  the  third  generation  in  his  grand-chil- 
dren, whom  he  personally  and  complacently  trained  for  ttie 
throne ;  having  for  his  court  a  family  of  pious,  beautiful  and 
educated  princesses,  who  were  respected  or  admired;  the  future 
seemed  to  him  as  if  assured  to  his  race  by  his  star,  and  history 
as  if  subjugated  to  his  name  by  his  success.  He  bequeathed 
the  restored  and  rejuvenated  monarchy  to  France,  peace  to  the 
world,  and  three  European  thrones  to  his  dynasty.  His  green 
old  age,  whose  strength  he  had  economized  by  the  chastity  of 
his  maturity,  was  the  anticipated  triumph  of  wisdom  over  the 
difficulties  of  life  and  the  mobility  of  destiny. 

VII. 

Such  was  Louis  Philippe  at  the  commencement  of  the  year 
1848.  This  whole  perspective  was  reality.  His  enemies  ac- 
knowledged themselves  vanquished.  Parties  adjourned  their 
hopes  to  the  day  of  his  death.  Reflection  was  overwhelmed  in 
contemplating  a  wisdom  so  profound,  and  a  fortune  so  constant. 
But  to  this  wisdom  and  to  this  fortune  a  broader  basis  was 
wanting  —  the  people. 

Louis  Philippe  had  not  comprehended  all  the  democracy  in 
his  views.  Served  by  ministers,  skilful  and  eloquent  indeed, 
but  rather  members  of  parliament  than  statesmen,  he  had 
restricted  the  democracy  to  the  proportions  of  an  elected 
dynasty,  with  the  chambers  and  three  hundred  thousand  elec- 
tors. He  had  left  beyond  the  pale  of  rights  and  political  action 
all  the  rest  of  the  nation.  He  had  made  of  a  pecuniary  quit- 
rent  the  sign  and  material  title  of  sovereignty,  instead  of 
recognizing  ind  establishing  this  sovereignty  by  the  divine 
right  of  mar  —  a  creature  capable  of  rights,  of  discernment, 
and  of  will.     In  a  word,  he  and  his  short-sighted  ministers  had 


REVOLUTION   OF    1S43. 


put  their  faith  in  an  oligarchy,  instead  of  founding  it  on  una- 
nimity. There  were  no  longer  slaves,  but  there  was  an  entire 
people  condemned  to  see  themselves  governed  by  a  handful  of 
electoral  dignitaries,  and  these  electors  alone  were  legal  men. 
The  masses  were  only  masses  sustaining  the  government  with- 
out sharing  in  it.  Such  a  government  could  not  fail  to  become 
selfish  —  such  masses  could  not  fail  to  become  disaffected. 

Other  great  faults,  produced  by  the  natural  intoxication  of 
a  mind  which  had  commanded  constant  success,  had  contrib- 
uted insensibly  to  alienate  these  masses  from  the  throne.  The 
people  have  not  the  science,  but  they  have  a  confused  percep- 
tion of  politics.  It  was  soon  seen  that  the  nation  was  sacrificed 
to  the  interests  of  the  strengthening  and  aggrandizement  of 
the  dynasty  into  our  relations  with  foreign  powers  ;  that  Louis 
FTiilippe  degraded  peace ;  that  his  alliance  at  whatever  price 
with  London  sometimes  gave  him  the  attitude  of  an  English 
viceroy  on  the  continent ;  that  the  treaties  of  1815,  the  natural 
but  temporary  reaction  of  the  unjust  conquests  of  the  empire, 
would  become,  under  his  dynasty,  the  regular  and  definitive 
state  of  the  continent  for  France  ;  that  England,  Russia,  Aus- 
tria and  Prussia,  assuming  annually  immense  dimensions  on 
the  seas,  in  the  east,  in  Poland,  in  Italy,  in  Germany,  on  the 
lower  Danube,  beyond  the  Caucasus,  and  on  the  side  of  Tur- 
key,— France,  forbidden  to  increase  on  the  sea,  in  territory  and 
in  influence,  was  proportionably  diminishing  in  the  family  of 
nations,  and  found  herself  insensibly  and  comparatively  reduced 
to  the  condition  of  a  secondary  power.  The  unuttered  or  artic- 
ulated opinion  of  the  masses  also  reproached  the  reign  of  Louis 
Philippe  with  betraying  the  revolution  internally,  by  resuming 
one  by  one  the  traditions  of  the  monarchy  of  divine  right, 
instead  of  conforming  to  the  democratic  spirit  of  the  elective 
monarchy  of  1830. 


V 


--I 


7 


\'}  \ 


VIII. 

A  parliamentary  oligarchy  seemed  to  be  the  perfect  ideal  of 
this  prince,  formed  in  the  school  of  British  government.  This 
oligarchy  itself  was  deceived  in  the  mechanism  of  government. 
A  chamber  of  peers,  without  power  of  itself,  and  without  inde- 
pendence, from  the  absence  of  the  hereditary  system,  was  but 
the  shadow  of  a  senate,  the  majority  of  which  the  king  qould, 
at  any  moment,  control  or  modify,  by  creating  new  senators  at 
will.     A   chamber   of   d3puties    full   of  public    functionaries, 


8  HISTORY    OF    THE 

appointed  or  dismissed  by  ministers,  sent  back  to  the  king  only 
his  own  imao^e  as  public  opinion.  Avowed  corruption  had 
become  a  power  in  the  state.  And  finally,  peace,  which  had 
been  thus  far  the  blessing  and  the  virtue  of  this  reign,  was 
suddenly  compromised  by  the  ambitious  and  impolitic  marriage 
of  a  son  of  the  king,  the  Duke  de  Montpensier,  with  an  event- 
ual heiress  of  the  crown  of  Spain. 

This  alliance,  for  a  purely  dynastic  motive,  severed  the  alli- 
ance with  England,  which  the  nation  had  supported  impatient- 
ly, but  still  supported,  on  account  of  the  great  interests  of 
humanity,  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  commerce  and  industr3^ 
On  seeing  this  alliance  suddenly  thrown  to  the  winds  for  the 
sake  of  family  aggrandizement,  France  thought  she  recognized 
that  there  was  nothing  sincere  but  ambition  in  the  condescen- 
sion until  then  shown  by  her  king  to  England ;  that,  on  the  first 
occasion,  her  blood,  her  manufactures,  her  commerce,  and  her 
marine,  would  be  tampered  with,  to  establish  a  prince  of  the 
family  of  Orleans  at  Madrid,  and  that  the  peace  system  itself 
was  only  an  hypocrisy  of  the  government  and  a  form  of  the 
dynastic  egotism. 

IX. 

From  this  day  the  king,  rendered  unpopular  with  the  repub- 
lican party  by  his  throne,  and  unpopular  with  the  legitimist 
party  by  his  usurpation,  was  rendered  unpopular  with  the 
pacific  and  government  party,  by  the  war  with  which  the 
Spanish  marriage  menaced  France.  The  king  retained  only 
a  ministry,  eloquent  in  parliament  and  agreeable  at  court, 
and  two  strong  majorities  in  the  two  Chambers.  The  king 
thought  himself  invincible  with  this  persomiel  of  power  in  his 
hand  ;  but  he  only  grasped  the  mechanism,  and,  to  make  ust 
of  the  expression,  the  vesture  of  the  country.  The  nation  was 
no  longer  there.     Public  opinion  had  escaped  him. 

The  political  men  of  the  opposition,  attached  to  the  mo- 
narchical system,  but  impatient  adversaries  of  the  ministry,  had 
been  consuming  themselves,  for  seven  years,  by  bitter  struggles 
in  the  tribune  for  the  repossession  of  power. 

M.  Thiers  was  its  soul,  intelligence  and  word.  Nature  had 
formed  him  for  the  part  of  an  agitator  in  the  bosom  of  an 
assembly',  rather  than  for  the  tribune  of  a  people.  He  had 
more -of  Fox  and  Pitt  than  Mirabeau.  His  speeches,  which 
had  don  •.  so  much  to  consolidate  the  monarchy  of  July  during 


REVOLUTION    OF    1348.  9 

its  first  years  ot  feebleness,  now  served  to  uproot'  it  in  the 
esteem  and  healt  of  the  nation.  The  republican  party,  too 
few  in  the  Chamber  to  obtain  a  hearing,  complacently  applauded 
the  biting  and  witty  attacks  directed  by  this  orator  against  the 
crown.  These  aggressions,  and  these  audacities  of  personal 
criticism,  seemed  to  acquire  a  more  ruinous  weight  of  oppo- 
sition, by  borrowing  the  language  of  an  old  minister  and  old 
friend  of  royalty.  Opposition,  in  the  mouth  of  an  adorer  of 
the  throne,  assumed  something  of  the  character  of  sacrilege. 

X. 

The  constant,  moderate,  ever  liberal  and  never  personal  oppo- 
sition of  M.  Odilon  Barrot,  daily  strengthened  the  honest  and 
manly  sentiment  of  liberty  in  the  country,  without  so  much 
degrading  the  consideration  and  authority  of  the  throne.  The 
legitimists,  effacing  their  principles,  and  confining  themselves 
to  a  war  of  disaffection  and  obstinate  aspersion,  possessed,  in 
M.  Berryer,  one  of  those  powerful-voiced  orators  whom  Provi- 
dence reserves  as  a  consolation  for  the  defeat  of  great  causes. 

M.  Guizot,  an  author,  orator  and  philosopher,  was  the  states- 
man of  the  stationary  monarchy.  His  character,  his  talent, 
his  errors,  even  his  sophistries,  possessed  antique  proportions. 

All  these  men  live  near  us  ;  some  still  in  active  life  —  others 
m  retirement  and  exile.  It  would  be  rash  or  base  to  judge 
them.  Time  has  not  placed  them  at  an  impartial  and  distant 
point  of  sight.  Truth  lies  only  in  the  distance.  In  drawing 
their  characters  now,  we  should  hazard  a  want  of  respect  for 
them,  or  of  consideration  for  their  position.  It  is  enough  at 
present  simply  to  name  them. 

XL 

The  nation  was  calm  upon  the  surface,  but  disturbed  beneath. 
There  was,  as  it  were,  a  sort  of  remorse  in  its  prosperity  which 
did  not  permit  its  quiet  enjoyment.  She  felt  that,  one  by  one, 
she  was  robbed,  during  her  sleep,  of  all  the  philosophical  truths 
of  the  revolution  of  'S9  —  that  she  was  materialized  to  be 
deprived  '^  f  the  remembrance  and  the  love  of  the  moral  and 
popular  IT  jvements  by  which  she  had  stirred  the  world,  fifty 
years  before.  Her  happiness  seemed  the  price  of  apostasy. 
On  the  other  hand,  she  was  sensible  of  being  humiliated  and 
menaced  in  her  national  existence,  by  a  policy  which  rendered 
2 


10  HISTORY    OF   THE 

her  too  nn|ch  the  thrall  of  Europe.  She  aspired  not  to  war, 
but  she  desired  her  liberty  of  action,  of  alliance,  of  principle, 
of  proper  influence  in  the  world.  She  felt  herself  betrayed, 
not  in  fact,  but  in  spirit,  by  the  new  dynasty,  self-imposed  in 
1830.  The  king  had  too  much  of  the  father,  and  too  little  of 
the  people. 

Journalism,  that  daily  symptom  of  the  condition  of  a  coun- 
try, expressed,  almost  unanimously,  this  uneasiness  of  opinion. 
The  press  is  the  universal  tribune.  Men  of  great,  immense 
and  varied  talent,  speak,  through  its  medium,  with  unyielding 
vigor  and  reserved  audacity,  to  the  people.  Laws  arrest  only 
words  —  they  bind  not  the  spirit  of  oppositions  and  of  factions. 
Writers  of  lofty  doctrine,  and  transcendent  controversial  tal- 
ent, have  illustrated  journalism  from  Andre  Chenier,  Camilla 
Desmoulins,  Mirabeau,  Bonald,  Benjamin  Constant,  Madame  de 
Stael,  Chateaubriand,  Thiers,  Carrel,  Guizot,  to  the  present 
writers,  the  Bertins,  the  Sacys,  the  Girardins,  the  Marrasts, 
the  ChamboUes,  and  a  brilliant  host  of  writers,  thinkers  and 
piiblicistes,  political  economists  and  socialists,  a  new  political 
generation,  equal  at  least  in  talent,  and  superior  in  diversity, 
to  the  generation  of  journalists  of  the  preceding  period.  These 
writers  dispute  the  empire  of  minds. 

The  Journal  des  Debcits,  which  sustains  all  governments  in 
turn,  as  being  the  necessary  expression  of  the  most  essential 
and  permanent  interest  of  society,  seemed  to  be  conducted  by 
men  matured  in  power.  It  had  gravity,  high  tone,  disdainful 
sarcasm,  and  sometimes  also  the  poignant  provocation  of  strength. 
It  seemed  to  reign  with  monarchy  itself,  and  to  remember  the 
empire.  The  names  of  all  the  great  official  writers,  who  were 
or  had  been  employed  as  editors,  from  M.  de  Fontanes  to  M. 
Villemain,  gave  it  a  prestige  of  superiority  over  a  periodical 
press  younger  in  years  and  passion.  The  amplitude  and  im- 
partiality of  its  parliamentary  debates,  its  foreign  correspon- 
dence, the  certainty  and  universality  of  its  information,  made  it 
the  manual  of  all  the  courts  and  all  the  diplomacy  of  Europe. 
It  was  the  daily  note  of  the  cabinet  of  the  Tuileries.  The 
sciences,  high  literature,  philosophy,  the  stage,  the  arts  and 
criticism,  were  there  analyzed,  reproduced  and  vivified  in  its 
feuilletoTis,  where  gravity  was  never  onerous,  and  where  futil- 
ity itself  was  relieved  by  the  wit  of  Aristophanes  or  of  Sterne. 
It  will  have  been  the  lot  of  few  fugitive  sheets  to  maintain 
their  existence  for  a  period  of  more  than  fifty  years,  and  thus 
to  form  a  porti?  n,  as  it  were,  of  the  history  of  France. 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  11 

The  Co-.istiUitionnel,  and  the  Coxvrrier  Francais,  had  taken  a 
great  part  in  the  strife  of  liberat  opinion  against  the  restora- 
tion. They  had  rendered  the  philosophy  of  the  eighteenth 
century  popular  among  the  masses.  Under  the  younger 
branch,  they  ceased  to  struggle  Avith  the  dynasty,  and  only 
attacked  the  ministers  and  the  majority  of  the  chambers. 

The  newspaper.  La  Presse,  founded  more  recently,  had 
obtained  in  a  few  years  a  large  space  in  public  opinion.  It 
was  eclecticism  applied  to  the  times  —  liberalism  without  its 
revolutionary  prejudices  —  constitutional  monarchy  without  its 
ministerial  servility.  A  man,  with  a  style  as  adventurous  as 
his  mind,  dared  to  utter  whatever  he  thought,  in  this  journal; 
now  sustaining,  now  vmdermining,  but  always  standing  alone. 
His  boldness  at  first  astounded,  but  finally  subdued  public 
opinion.  Even  while  reproving,  the  public  were  interested  in 
the  audacity  of  his  pen.  A  woman,  already  rendered  illus- 
trious by  her  poetry,  added  her  grace  to  this  strength.  Her 
letters  on  politics,  manners  and  fashions,  appeared  every  week 
at  the  close  of  the  paper,  signed  by  a  conventional  name.  All 
France  were  in  the  secret.  They  read  beneath  this  pseudonym 
a  name  already  celebrated.  This  name  only  changed  its  pres- 
tige in  becoming  familiar  by  attic  wit,  eloquence  and  good 
sense. 

Le  Siede,  less  lofty  in  tone  and  ideas  than  these  two  papers, 
had  obtained  an  immense  auditory  among  the  busy  world  of 
town  and  country  traders.  It  was  supposed  to  derive  its  inspi- 
ration from  the  dynastic  orators  of  the  left.  Rectitude  and  im- 
partiality were  its  two  means  of  success.  It  did  more  good 
than  it  made  noise.  It  popularized  the  mind,  and  not  the  forms, 
of  the  republic.  It  commenced  the  education  of  that  laboring 
class  of  the  country,  which  needs  a  currency  of  ideas,  stamped, 
and  of  moderate  value,  for  its  daily  exchanges.  M.  Cham- 
bolle  gave  it  the  impress  of  an  honest  man,  persevering  and 
courageous  in  his  moderation.  The  Siede,  in  his  hands,  v^^as 
the  healthy  democracy  of  opinion.  It  was  more  than  a  news- 
paper.    It  was  the  catechism  of  the  constitution. 

La  Gazette  de  France  represented  less  a  party  than  a  man. 
M.  de  Genoude,  a  man  of  i  mind  at  once  supple  and  impe- 
rious, bent  to  the  times  ir  the  illusion  of  afterwards  bending 
the  times  to  his  own  view.  Born  into  the  political  world  with 
the  restoration,  a  priest  and  citizen,  the  pupil  and  friend  of  the 
Bonnalds,  the  Lammenais,  the  Chateaubriands,  and  the  Vil- 
leles,  he  was  attached  to  the  legitimacy  of  hereditary  power, 


12  HISTO?.r   OF   THE 

as  to  a  dogma  of  his  conscience.  States  were,  in  his  eyes, 
only  families.  He  deceived  himself — states  are  the  people, 
and  these  people,  their  infancy  once  passed,  are  thenceforth 
subjected  only  to  the  tutelage  of  morality  and  reason.  The 
family  is  mankind  —  the  father  is  not  the  king,  but  God. 

But  M.  de  Genoude  and  his  school,  with  a  persevering  arti- 
fice, accommodated  this  dogma  to  the  spirit  of  the  times.  All 
of  fecundity  and  stratagem  that  the  activity  of  the  man,  the 
resources  of  the  publicist,  the  address  of  the  mind,  the  courage 
of  the  citizen,  could  display  in  behalf  of  a  system,  was  multi- 
plied by  M.  de  Genoude  in  his  journal.  He  undermined  all 
the  ministers,  he  remained  isolated  in  his  dogma  and  his  indi- 
viduality. He  rejoiced  at  each  fall,  and  prophesied  each  ruin. 
He  possessed  the  infallibility  of  menace  against  all  men  and  all 
things.  Many  discontented  spirits,  among  those  whom  the  age 
left  in  the  rear,  were  delighted  with  this  perpetual  accusation 
of  impotence,  and  this  defiance  addressed  to  the  men  of  the 
dynasty.  The  most  contrary  branches  of  opposition  lent  their 
arms  against  the  common  enemy.  The  legitimists  lent  them 
to  the  republicans,  and  the  republicans  to  the  legitimists.  M. 
de  Genoude  was  no  longer  a  man,  he  was  a  system.  La  Gazette 
de  France  was  more  than  a  journal,  it  was  the  Curse  of  the 
Dynasty. 

XII. 

Le  NatioTial  was  the  organ  of  public  opinion,  the  touchstone 
of  the  future  revolution.  Yet  the  republic  being  still  but  a 
distant  presentiment  to  the  masses,  this  paper  did  not  have  a 
great  number  of  supporters  in  the  country.  It  was  read  with 
a  certain  curiosity  of  mind  which  seeks  to  know  what  approach- 
ing events  are  in  store,  even  if  they  appear  the  least  probable 
products  of  the  future.  It  was  the  prophetic  satire,  rather  than 
the  philosophy,  of  the  republic.  This  journal  confined  itself 
to  indefinite  boundaries  between  the  acceptance  of  monarchical 
government  and  a  republican  profession  of  faith.  Sometimes 
it  seemed  to  have  too  cordial  an  understanding  with  the  purely 
dj'nastic  opposition.  In  its  opinions  of  tactics,  it  missed  few 
opportunities  of  favoring  the  views  and  policy  of  M.  Thiers. 
It  was  suspected  of  a  private  concert  with  the  expectant  minis- 
ter of  the  dynasty,  or,  at  least,  of  a  favorable  disposition  to  that 
party. 

M.   Marrast,   the   editor,  was   the   serious   and  moderate 
Camille  Desmoulins  of  the  future  republic.    Never  did  facility. 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848. 


13 


elasticity,  spontaneity,  color,  the  southern  air,  the  Gallic,  or 
the  Attic  wit,  a  lorn  with  more  artificial  ornaments  the  pon- 
iard of  controversy  in  the  hands  of  a  careless  Aristophanes. 
His  mind  was  the  unexpected  lightning  which  burns  and 
threatens  at  the  same  time,  sporting  in  spires  of  flame  at  all 
points  of  the  horizon  ;  so  capricious  and  so  skilful,  that  he 
amused  himself  by  dazzling  the  very  men  he  was  about  to 
strike.  But  the  genius  of  this  style  was  mischief  and  not 
hatred.  Never  did  a  sanguinary  figure,  a  ghastly  souvenir,  or 
a  fatal  provocation,  sadden  his  pages,  A  mind  full  of  impar- 
tiality and  perhaps  scepticism  was  perceived  beneath  this  talent. 
The  pleasure  of  the  political  artist  instead  of  the  sombre  fanat- 
icism of  the  sectary,  the  horror  of  the  vulgar,  the  loathing 
of  jacobinism,  the  dread  of  proscriptions,  the  taste  for  litera- 
ture, eloquence,  tolerance,  and  glory,  with  liberty,  formed  the 
republican  ideal  of  M.  Marrast.  His  revolution  was  the  intel- 
lectual sport  of  a  man  of  imagination  and  the  kind  heart  of  a 
woman. 

Another  journal  for  some  time  occupied  a  narrow  but  threat- 
ening position  in  public  opinion,  opposed  to  the  National. 
This  was  La  Reforme.  This  journal  represented  the  extreme 
left,  the  incorruptible  revolution,  the  democratic  revolution  at 
any  price.  It  passed  for  a  personification  of  the  political  inspi- 
rations of  M.  Ledru  Rollin,  and  three  or  four  important  depu- 
ties of  the  Chamber.  It  was  the  tradition  of  the  Convention, 
renewed  fifty  years  after  the  battles  and  revenge  of  the  Con- 
vention ;  the  Mountain  with  its  thunders  and  its  furies  in  the 
midst  of  a  period  of  peace  and  calm ;  the  accents  of  Danton  in 
a  political  academy ;  a  fanciful  terror,  a  systematic  rage ;  a 
jacobinism  dug  up  from  the  hearts  of  the  dead  of  1794;  an 
antagonistic  idea  to  the  future  republic,  wishing  to  remodel  it, 
under  totally  different  circumstances,  in  the  image  of  the 
former  republic. 

In  order  to  stir  up  the  people  more  deeply,  and  to  recruit  all 
the  men  of  action,  against  the  day  of  the  republic.  La  Pieforme 
sometimes  touched  on  what  is  called  Socialism.  That  is  to 
say,  that,  without  adhering  to  any  of  the  radically  subversive 
and  renovating  sects  of  society,  such  as  St.  Simonism,  Fou- 
lierism.  Organization  of  Labor,  or  Communism,  La  Reforvie 
fulminated  anathemas  against  existing  society,  and,  in  the 
political  revolution,  showed  a  glimpse  of  a  revolution  of  wages, 
labor,  and  property. 

But  more  commonly,  this  paper,  repudiating  chimeras,  con- 
2^ 


14  HISTORY    OF    THE 

fined  its  pclitical  opposition  to  direct  and  mortal  attacks  against 
royalty. 

It  was  habitually  edited  by  M.  Flocon,  a  bold  man  of  strong 
mind,  honest  even  in  the  war  of  opinion  he  waged  against  his 
enemies.  M.  Flocon  was  one  of  those  republicans  of  the  first 
race,  who  had  hardened  their  faith  in  secret  societies,  conspira- 
cies, and  dungeons.  Cold  in  his  exterior,  rude  in  look  and 
language,  yet  with  a  keen  smile,  plain  and  sober  in  expression, 
there  was  something  of  Roman  rusticity  in  his  person,  his  will, 
and  his  style.  But  beneath  this  bark,  there  was  a  heart 
incapable  of  bending  to  fear,  though  always  ready  to  yield  to 
pity.  He  had  more  than  one  administrative  quality ;  a  rare 
thing  with  men  who-  have  grown  up  in  habits  of  opposition. 
He  knew  what  he  wished.  He  would  have  it  at  all  costs,  he 
would  have  it  to  the  uttermost,  but  he  would  not  go  beyond 
that  limit.  In  a  word,  he  knew  how  to  stop  at  what 
appeared  to  him  right,  possible,  and  reasonable,  and  he  knew 
how  to  turn  back  to  defend  the  limits  of  his  idea  against  his 
own  friends.  That  is  to  say,  that,  beneath  the  conspirator, 
there  was  always  the  man  of  action  in  ]M.  Flocon. 

XIII. 

A  sort  of  tacit  coalition  between  all  the  parties  represented 
by  these  journals,  as  well  as  by  other  eminent  organs,  of  more 
shadowy  opinions,  such  as  the  Courrier  Framais,  the  Demo- 
cratie  Pacijique,  and  the  Commerce,  was  formed  against  the 
ministry  of  M.  Guizot.  At  the  close  of  the  session  of  1847, 
they  had  concerted  together  a  plan  for  a  general  agitation  of 
Paris  and  its  departments,  under  the  form  of  political  banquets. 
The  initiative  of  this  agitation  had  been  taken  by  the  dynastic 
opposition,  as  if  with  these  men,  united  and  ambitious  of  power, 
impatience  had  been  a  sharper  and  blinder  passion  than  even 
the  logic  of  the  republicans. 

Still  M.  Thiers  did  not  seem  to  trust  his  person  in  the  midst 
of  this  agitation.  Was  it  that  his  prescience  as  a  statesman 
and  an  historian  showed  him  its  dangers  from  afar  ?  Perhaps, 
also,  his  position  as  future  minister,  after  the  triumph  of  his 
friends,  imposed  on  him  a  reserve  which  he  had  the  courage 
to  mainta'n  gallantly  against  his  own  party. 

M.  Du'  ergier  de  Hauranne,  —  an  old  friend  of  M.  Guizot,  and 
a  new  friend  of  ^I.  Thiers,  excited  in  the  midst  of  strife,  and 
disinterested  after  victory,  a  man  of  an  eminently  parliamentary 


REVOIUTION    OF    1843.  15 

turn,  prouder  of  agitating  than  of  ruling,  without  any  other 
desire  than  that  of  influence,  a  true  and  courageous  patriot, 
serious  in  glory,  honest  in  ambition,  —  drew  tne  friends  of  M. 
Thiers  and  M.  Barrot,  and  the  latter  gentleman  himself,  into 
this  movement.     The  watchword  was  electoral  reform. 

XIV. 

The  party  of  the  KatioJial  and  that  of  the  Reforme  per- 
ceived, with  the  clearsightedness  of  passion,  the  tendency  of 
this  measure  of  the  banquets,  a  desperate  and  revolutionary 
measure  adopted  by  the  dynastic  opposition.  The  republicans, 
too  weak  in  numbers,  and  tor>  strongly  suspected  in  opinion,  to 
dare  and  to  act  alone,  were  to  have  for  auxiliaries  the  very 
friends  of  the  dynasty,  the  founders  of  the  throne  of  July,  the 
authors  of  the  repressive  laws,  and  at  least  half  of  the  national 
guard  and  the  electors.  Where  would  the  country  halt  when 
once  in  motion  ?  Would  it  be  at  a  simple  change  of  ministrj-  ? 
Would  it  be  at  an  insignificant  addition  of  privileged  electors 
to  the  two  hundred  thousand  electors,  who,  of  themselves, 
expressed  the  sovereignty  of  the  people?  —  Would  it  be  at  an 
abdication  of  the  king?  —  Would  it  be  at  the  regency  of  a 
woman,  or  a  prince,  during  the  minority  of  a  child  ?  It  mat- 
tered little.     All  these  eventualities  would  help  their  cause. 

They  hastened  to  subscribe  to  the  banquet  of  Paris.  The 
men  of  the  dynastic  opposition  dared  not  repulse  the  republi- 
cans. They  would  have  repulsed  in  them  all  the  throng,  all 
the  noise,  all  the  turbulence,  all  the  menace  of  their  demon- 
strations. The  people  would  be  alienated  by  not  seeing  among 
them  their  friends  and  tribunes.  The  cause  appeared  to  be 
common.     The  cry  was  the  same  cry,  Vive  la  Reforme. 

A  somewhat  Punic  coalition  was  achieved  in  1S39,  by 
antagonistic  opposition  in  the  Chamber  and  the  press,  between 
M.  Guizot  and  M.  Thiers,  M.  Barrot  and  M.  Berryer,  M. 
Dufaure  and  M.  Garnier  Pages,  the  republicans  and  the  royal- 
ists. This  coalition  had  done  violence  to  the  constitutional 
king,  placed  M.  Thiers  in  power,  humbled  the  sincere  opposi- 
tion, ruined  our  foreign  affairs  in  1S40,  and  demoralized  the 
representative  government.  The  same  parties,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  M.  Berryer  and  M.  Dufaure,  committed  the  same  fault 
against  the  ministry  of  M.  Guizot  in  1S48.  They  united  to 
overthrow,  without  power  of  union  to  reconstruct.  Coalitions 
of  this  nature  can  logically  produce  only  ruins.    It  is  their  impo- 


16  HISTORY    OF    THE 


tence  for  good  which  makes  them  immoral.  Revohitions  alone 
can  profit  by  them.  And  rightfully  they  profit  by  them.  The 
republic  is  the  voluntary  work  of  the  parliamentary  coalition 
of  1S40,  and  of  the  agitation  coalition  of  1848 ;  M.  Guizot  and 
M.  Thiers,  in  forming  the  first,  Messieurs  Duvergier  de  Hau- 
ranne,  Barrot,  and  their  friends,  in  forming  the  second,  were 
unwittingly  the  real  authors  of  the  republic. 

The  banquet  of  Paris  was  the  signal  for  a  series  of  opposi- 
tion banquets  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  kingdom.  In  some, 
the  republican  and  dynastic  agitators  were  united,  and  con- 
cealed, with  vague  and  elastic  expressions,  the  incongruities  of 
their  programme.  In  some  others,  as  at  Lille,  Dijon,  Chalons, 
and  Autun,  they  separated  frankly.  M.  Odilon  Barrot  and 
his  friends,  and  M.  Ledru  RoUin  and  his,  refused  to  lend 
themselves  to  a  hypocritical  concert.  Each  moved  towards 
his  object,  one  to  the  moderate  and  monarchical  reform  of  the 
electoral  law,  and  tho  other  to  the  radical  reform  of  govern- 
ment, in  other  words,  the  repubHc. 

This  schism  first  characterized  the  banquet  of  Lille.  M. 
Barrot  refused  to  take  a  seat  there  until  a  sign  of  constitutional 
adhesion  to  the  monarch,  in  the  form  of  a  toast  to  the  king, 
was  given.  This  decision  was  still  further  defined  at  Dijon, 
and  at  Chalons.  M.  Flocon  and  M.  Ledru  RoUin  there  made 
speeches,  the  precursors  of  a  revolution  already  accomplished 
in  the  minds  of  their  partisans. 

A  few  men  of  the  parliamentary  opposition,  of  isolated 
opinions,  such  as  Messieurs  Thiers,  Dufaure,  and  Lamartine^ 
scrupulously  abstained  from  appearing  at  these  banquets. 
These  confused  and  turbulent  demonstrations  doubtless  seemed 
to  them,  either  not  to  reach  or  to  go  beyond  the  limits  of  their 
opposition.  They  feared  to  associate  themselves  by  their 
presence,  the  latter  to  a  revolution,  the  former  to  an  ambitious 
and  purely  ministerial  opposition.  They  thus,  like  many  other 
members  of  the  Chamber,  wrapped  themselves  in  their  con- 
science and  their  individuality. 

XV. 

Still  another  banquet  created  a  strong  sensation  in  France 
at  the  same  period.  This  was  the  banquet  offered  to  M.  de 
Lamartine,  on  his  return  from  the  Chamber,  by  his  fellow- 
citizens  of  Macon.  The  object  of  this  banquet  was  not  politi- 
cal.    M.  de  Lamartine  had  refused  to  be  present  at  the  reform 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  17 

banquets,  which  were,  according  to  Hm,  too  vague  and  indefi- 
nite in  their  object.  Opposed  to  the  parliamentary  coalition 
of  1S38  and  1S40,  he  could  not,  without  falsifying  himself, 
associate  himself  with  the  parliamentary  and  agitating  coalition 
of  1S47.  He  moved  onward  to  an  end  determined  in  his  own 
mind.  It  was  not  in  his  nature  to  throw  himself  into  a  mtUe 
of  opposition  without  a  common  chart,  to  move  with  adversa- 
ries towards  an  unknown  object.  He  had  frankly  expressed 
this  reserve  in  articles  in  the  Bieii  Public  of  Macon,  a  small 
journal,  loudly  echoed  and  reechoed  by  all  the  press  of  Paris 
and  the  departments. 

The  object  of  the  banquet  of  Macon  was  to  congratulate  M. 
de  Lamartine,  who  was  fraternally  loved  by  his  fellow-citizens, 
on  the  success  of  the  History  of  the  Girondiiis,  which  M.  de 
Lamartine  had  recently  published. 

The  book  had  been  much  read,  not  only  in  France,  but 
throughout  all  Europe.  In  Germany,  Italy,  and  Spain,  editions 
and  translations  of  the  Histoire  des  Girondins  were  multiplied 
as  the  daily  aliment  of  souls.  It  moved  hearts,  it  induced 
minds  to  reflect,  it  carried  back  the  imagination  towards  that 
great  epoch  and  those  great  principles  which  the  ISth  century, 
rich  in  presages,  and  laden  with  the  future,  wished  to  bequeath 
in  dying  to  the  world,  to  deliver  it  from  tyranny  and  prejudice. 
He  washed  away  the  blood  criminally  shed  by  the  anger,  am- 
bition or  baseness  of  the  actors  in  the  drama  of  the  republic. 
He  flattered  none  of  the  demagogues,  he  excused  nothing-  in 
the  executioners,  he  compassionated  all  in  the  victims.  But 
his  pity  for  the  vanquished  did  not  blind  him.  He  commis- 
erated the  men,  he  wept  for  the  women,  he  adored  philosophy 
and  liberty.  The  stream  of  blood  from  the  scafiblds  did  not 
hide  from  him  the  holy  truths  which  rose  upon  the  future  from 
behind  the  smoke  of  the  execrable  holocaust.  He  courageously 
swept  away  the  cloud.  He  punished  the  murderers  historically. 
He  restored  its  right  and  its  innocence  to  the  new  idea  purged 
of  the  crimes  of  its  followers,  he  avenged  it  for  the  crime  which 
had  sullied  under  pretext  of  serving  it.  He  returned  oppro- 
brium on  the  demagogues,  glory  on  the  revolution. 

XVI. 

In  reply  to  an  address  of  the  Mayor  of  Macon,  M.  Roland,  a 
young  man  who  dared  to  compromise  his  official  station  by 
acknowledging  Lis   opinions  and   political  friendship,  M.  de 


18  HISTORY   OF   THE 

Lamartine  seized  the  opportunity  of  revealing  once  more  his 
thoughts  to  his  country.  He  spoke  like  a  man  devoted,  soul 
and  heart,  to  the  cause  of  the  liberty  of  the  human  race,  and 
the  progress  of  organized  democracy. 

"  Fellow-citizens  and  friends,"  said  he,  "  before  replying 
to  the  impatience  which  you  testify,  permit  me,  in  the  first 
place,  to  thank  you  for  the  patience  and  fortitude  which  have 
enabled  you,  standing  unmoved,  to  resist  the  fury  of  the  storm, 
the  blaze  of  the  lightning,  and  the  peals  of  thunder,  under  this 
crumbling  roof  and  these  torn  tents.  You  show  that  you  are 
indeed  the  children  of  those  Gauls  who  exclaimed,  in  yet  more 
serious  circumstances,  that  if  the  arch  of  heaven  should  cave 
in  they  would  sustain  it  on  their  lance-points. 

*  #  #  # 

"  But,  gentlemen,  let  us  go  at  once  to  the  bottom  of  this 
demonstration.  My  book  required  an  ending,  and  you  have 
made  one.  The  end  is  that  France  feels  at  once  the  necessity 
of  studying  the  spirit  of  her  revolution,  of  plunging  again  into 
her  principles,  purified  and  separated  from  the  excesses  which 
disfigure  them,  and  the  blood  which  soiled  them,  and  deriving 
from  the  past  lessons  for  the  present  and  the  future. 

"  Yes,  to  seek,  after  half  a  century,  beneath  the  yet  warm 
ashes  of  events,  beneath  the  still  stirring  dust  of  the  dead,  the 
primitive  and,  I  hope,  immortal  spark  which  kindled  in  the  soul 
of  a  great  people  that  ardent  flame  with  which  the  whole  world 
was  first  enlightened,  then  embraced,  then  partially  consumed  ; 
to  rekindle,  1  say,  this  flame,  too  feeble  in  the  heart  of  the  gen- 
erations which  succeed  us,  to  cherish  it,  lest  it  should  forever 
fade,  and  leave  France  and  Europe  a  second  time  in  the 
obscurity  of  the  dark  ages ;  to  watch  over  it  and  purify  it  also, 
lest  its  light  should  degenerate  by  compression,  even  into 
explosion,  conflagration,  and  ruin  —  this  is  the  idea  of  the  book ! 
this  is  the  idea  of  the  time  !  Will  you  deny  me  if  I  add  —  and 
this  is  your  idea  ?  "     [No  !  no  !)  • 

*  #  #  # 

"  From  the  age  of  political  reason,  that  is  to  say,  from  the 
age  when  we  form  our  own  opinions,  after  having  stammered, 
like  children,  the  opinions  and  prejudices  of  our  nurses,  I  said 
to  myself —  What,  then,  is  the  French  revolution  ? 

"Is  the  French  revoluLion,  as  the  adorers  of  the  past  say,  a 
great  sedition  of  a  nation  disturbed  for  no  reason,  and  destroy- 
ing, in  their  insensate  convulsions,  their  church,  their  monarchy, 
their  classes,  their  institutions,  their  nationality,  and   even 


REVOLUTION   OF    1843.  19 

rending  the  map  of  Europe  ?  No  I  the  revolution  has  not  been 
a  miserable  sedition  of  France ;  for  a  sedition  subsides  as  it 
rises,  and  leaves  nothing  but  corpses  and  ruins  behind  it.  The 
revolution  has  left  scaffolds  and  ruins,  it  is  true ;  therein  is 
its  remorse  :  but  it  has  also  left  a  doctrine ;  it  has  left  a  spirit 
which  will  be  enduring  and  perpetual  so  long  as  human  reason 
shall  exist. 

#  ^  *  # 

"  The  first  dogma  of  the  beneficent  revolution  which  this 
philosophy  would  give  prevalence  to  in  the  world  is  peace  !  the 
extinction  of  international  animosities,  the  fraternity  of  nations. 
We  are  approaching  this  condition  —  we  enjoy  peace.  I  am 
not  among  those  who  reject  even  the  blessings  of  the  govern- 
ments they  assail.  For  the  future,  peace  will  be,  according  to 
me,  the  glorious  amnesty  of  this  government  to  balance  its 
other  errors.  As  historian  or  deputy,  man  or  philosopher,  I 
shall  always  sustain  peace,  with  or  against  government,  and  you 
will  always  think  with  me.  War  is  but  wholesale  murder,  — 
wholesale  murder  is  not  progress."     [Prolonged  applause.) 

^  tP  ^  7v- 

"  Ah !  if  we  continue  for  a  few  years  more  to  abandon, 
through  our  own  inconstancy,  all  the  ground  gained  by 
French  ideas,  let  us  beware  !  We  must  not  then  desert  nor 
leave  shamefully  behind  us  not  only  all  progress,  all  intelli- 
gence, all  the  conquests  of  the  modern  intellect ;  not  only  our 
name,  our  honor,  our  intellectual  rank,  and  our  initiative  influ- 
ence upon  nations  ;  but  the  memory  and  blood  of  the  thousands 
of  men,  combatants  or  victims,  who  have  died  to  make  these 
victories  good  to  us  I  The  savage  tribes  of  America  say  to 
the  European  invaders  who  would  drive  them  from  their  native 
soil :  *  If  you  would  have  us  give  place  to  you,  at  least  suffer 
us  to  carry  off  the  bones  of  our  fathers  ! '  The  bones  of  our 
fathers  are  the  truths,  the  intelligence  they  have  conquered 
from  the  world,  which  a  reaction  of  opinion,  always  on  the 
increase,  but  destined  finally  to  terminate,  would  compel  us  to 
repudiate. 

"  But  once  again,  will  they  succeed  ?  Let  us  examme. 
History  teaches  everything,  even  the  future.  Experience  is 
the  only  prophecy  of  wise  men  ! 

"  And,  in  the  first  place,  let  us  not  be  too  much  alarmed  at 
reactions.  They  are  the  movement,  the  ebb  and  flow,  of  the 
human  mind.  Permit  me  to  make  use  of  an  illustration  bor- 
rowed from  those  instruments  of  war  which  many  of  you  have 


I 


20  mSTORY    OF   THE 

handled,  on  the  land  and  on  the  ocean,  during  the  conflicts  of 
liberty.  When  pieces  of  cannon  have  been  discharged,  and 
belched  their  contents  on  our  fields  of  battle,  they  experience, 
from  the  very  revulsion  of  their  explosion,  a  movement  which 
forces  them  back.  This  is  what  artillerists  call  the  recoil  of 
the  cannon.  Well,  political  reactions  are  nothing  but  this 
recoil  of  guns  in  artillery.  Keactions  are  the  recoil  of  ideas. 
It  seems  as  if  the  human  mind,  stunned,  as  it  were,  by  the  new 
truths  which  revolutions  accomplished  in  its  name  have  launched 
upon  the  world,  falls  back  and  retires  basely  from  the  ground 
which  it  has  conquered.  But  this  is  only  a  temporary  move- 
ment. Gentlemen,  other  hands  return  to  reload  this  pacific 
artillery  of  the  human  mind,  and  new  discharges,  not  of  balls, 
but  of  ideas,  restore  their  empire  to  truths  which  seem  to  have 
been  abandoned  or  subdued. 

^  ^  'rr  'TT 

"  We  will  not,  therefore,  give  ourselves  much  concern 
respecting  the  duration  of  these  reactions,  but  will  examine 
what  comes  to  pass  when  they  have  achieved  their  irregular 
and  retrograde  movement.  In  my  opinion,  it  is  the  fol» 
lowing :  — 

"  If  the  royalty,  nominally  monarchical,  but  really  democratic, 
adopted  by  France  in  1830,  understands  that  it  is  only  the 
sovereignty  of  the  people  seated  above  the  electoral  tempests, 
and  crowned  in  the  person  of  an  individual,  to  represent  the 
summit  of  public  affairs,  the  unity  and  perpetuity  of  national 
power;  if  modern  royalty,  delegated  by  the  people,  and  so 
widely  differing  from  ancient  royalty,  the  property  of  the  throne, 
regards  itself  as  a  magistracy  adorned  by  a  title  which  has 
changed  its  meaning  in  the  language  of  mankind  ;  if  it  con- 
fines to  being  an  honored  regulator  of  the  mechanism  of  govern- 
ment, marking  and  controlling  the  efforts  of  the  general  will, 
without  ever  constraining,  changing,  falsifying,  or  corrupting 
them  in  their  source,  which  is  opinion  ;  if  it  content  itself  with 
being,  in  its  own  eyes,  like  the  tablets  of  old  demolished  temples 
which  the  ancients  replaced  as  evidence  in  the  construction  of 
new  temples,  to  deceive  the  superstitious  homage  of  the  crowd, 
and  impress  something  of  traditionary  antiquity  on  the  modern 
edifice ;  representative  royalty  will  last  long  enough  to  accom- 
plish its  work  of  preparation  and  business,  and  the  duration  of 
its  services  will  be  to  our  children  the  exact  measure  of  the 
duration  of  its  existence."     {Yes  !  yes  I) 

*  #  #  #  #  # 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  21 

"  But  let  us  hope  better  of  the  wisdom  of  governments  en- 
lightened, too  late  perhaps,  but  in  time,  we  trust,  for  their  own 
interests.  Let  us  hope  better  of  the  probity  and  energy  of  the 
public  mind,  which  seems  for  a  long  time  to  have  entertained 
presentiments  of  fear  or  safety  !  May  the  presentiments  which 
we  ourselves  feel  be  warnings,  and  not  menaces,  to  the  public 
authorities  !  We  are  not  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  faction  !  No 
factious  idea  enters  our  thoughts.  We  do  not  wish  to  compose 
a  faction  —  we  compose  opinion,  for  it  is  nobler,  stronger,  and 
more  invincible.  {Yes !  yes  I)  Well,  gentlemen,  symptoms  of 
improvement  in  public  opinion  strike  me,  and  will  perhaps 
strike  you. 

"  Who  shall  decide  between  these  two  parties  ?  Who  shaU 
be  the  judge  ?  Shall  we  have,  as  in  our  first  struggles,  violence, 
oppression  and  death  ?  No,  gentlemen  !  let  us  give  thanks  to 
our  fathers  —  it  shall  be  liberty  which  they  have  bequeathed 
to  us,  liberty  which  now  has  its  own  arms,  its  pacific  arms,  to 
develop  itself  without  anger  and  excess.     (Applause.) 

"  Therefore  shall  we  triumph  —  be  sure  of  it ! 

"And  if  you  ask  what  is  the  moral  force  which  shall  bend  the 
government  beneath  the  will  of  the  nation,  I  will  answer  you  ;  it 
is  the  sovereignty  of  ideas,  the  royalty  of  mind,  the  republic,  the 
true  republic  of  intelligence,  in  one  word  —  opinion  —  that  mod- 
ern power  whose  very  name  was  unknown  to  antiquity.  Gen- 
tlemen, public  opinion  was  born  on  the  very  day  when  Gut- 
tenberg,  whom  I  have  styled  the  artificer  of  a  new  world, 
invented,  by  printing,  the  multiplication  and  indefinite  commu- 
nication of  thought  and  human  reason.  This  incompressible 
power  of  opinion  needs  not  for  its  sway  either  the  brand  of 
vengeance,  the  sword  of  justice,  or  the  scafTold  of  terror.  It 
holds  in  its  hands  the  equilibrium  between  ideas  and  institu- 
tions, the  balance  of  the  human  mind.  In  one  of  the  scales  of 
this  balance — understand  it  well — will  be  for  a  long  time  placed, 
mental  superstitions,  prejudices  self-styled  useful,  the  divine 
right  of  kings,  distinctions  of  right  among  classes,  international 
animosities,  the  spirit  of  conquest,  the  venal  alliance  of  church 
and  state,  the  censorship  of  thought,  the  silence  of  tribunes, 
and  the  ignorance  and  systematic  degradation  of  the  masses. 

"  In  the  other  scale,  we  ourselves,  gentlemen,  will  place  the 
lightest  and  most  impalpable  thing  of  all  that  God  has  created 
—  light,  a  little  of  that  light  which  the  French  revolution 
evolved  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  from  a  volcano,  doubt- 
less, but  from  a  volcano  of  truth."     [Prolonged  applause.) 

3 


22  BISTORT   or  TEE 


xvn. 


This  address,  reproduced  on  the  following  day  by  all  the 
papers,  sufficiently  expressed  the  actual  ideas  of  the  country;  a 
vague  discontent  generated  by  the  systc-m  of  the  crown,  which 
externally  sacrificed  the  legitimate  interests  of  France  to  the 
ambition  of  the  Orleans  dynasty ;  a  philosophical  and  rational 
lore  of  democratic  principles  surrendered  to  an  oligarchy  con- 
fined to  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  electors,  easily  con- 
quered or  corrupted  by  the  niinistry  ;  a  sincere  and  almost 
universal  dread  of  a  revolution  which  would  plunge  die  countrv 
into  an  uncertain  future  ;  the  desire  of  having  the  progress  of 
the  democratic  principle  accomplished  by  an  enlarged  and 
strengthened  representative  government,  and  an  appeal  to  mod- 
erate energ}-  on  the  part  of  the  people,  and  to  prudence  and 
reflection  on  the  part  of  the  government.  This  discourse  did 
not  transcend  the  limits  which  the  conscience  of  the  orator 
imposed  on  him.  The  fruits  and  promises  of  the  first  revolu- 
tion without  a  new  revolution,  if  possible,  but  the  spirit  of  the 
revolution  preserved  and  vivified  by  institutions,  on  pain  of 
shame  for  France,  and  pain  of  death  for  the  ideas  which  make 
up  the  grandeur  and  sanctity  of  the  human  mind,  —  such  was 
the  faithful  interpretation  of  the  public  sentiment,  the  prophetic 
cry  of  the  national  soul.  All  which  went  beyond  this  language 
went  beyond  the  times. 

^L  de  Lamartine,  without  fearing  to  compromise  the  popu- 
larity" which  he  then  enjoyed  in  his  department,  and  in  France, 
had  the  courage,  a  few  daj-s  afterwards,  to  contend  boldly 
against  the  doctrines  which  M.  Ledru  Rollin  and  his  friends 
had  expressed  at  the  revolutionari-  banquet  of  Dijon,  the  sym- 
Dols,  as  they  said,  of  1793,  planted  by  the  same  party  at'the 
banquet  of  Chalons,  and  the  anti-social  predictions  for  which 
a  young  orator  had  secured  applause  at  the  Communist  banquet 
of  Autun. 

"  These  banquets,"  said  M.  de  Lamartine,  alluding  to  those 
of  Dijon  and  Chalons,  "  are  the  tocsin  of  opinion.  Sometimes 
they  strike  fairly,  at  other  times  they  break  the  metal.  There 
are,  in  these  manifestations,  words  which  make  the  earth  trem- 
ble, and  reminiscences  which  recall  what  the  present  democ- 
racy ought  to  obliterate.     Why  tear  from  a  period  the  things 


BE  VOLUTION   OF    1S4=.  23 

which  ought  to  be  buried  with  the  period  itself?  WTiy  these 
imitations,  we  might  ahmost  say,  these  parodies,  of  1793  ?  Has 
libert)'  a  liven',  as  there  was  a  liven,-  of  courts  ?  For  my  part, 
I  assert  that  this  is  not  only  a  puerilit)',  but  an  absurdity.  The 
intelligent  and  sensible  democracy  of  the  future  is  thus  dis- 
gnised  in  the  semblance  and  color  of  the  democracy  of  the  past. 
This  disguises  the  public  mind,  and,  in  thus  disguising,  ren- 
ders it  undistinguishable.  This  cruelly  recalls  to  some  the 
pique  through  which  their  fathers  perished ;  to  others,  their 
alienated  property ;  to  others  yet,  their  desecrated  temples ;  to 
all,  the  days  of  sadness,  mourning  and  terror,  which  left  a 
shadow  on  the  land.  Ever)'  epoch  should  be  consistent  with 
itself.  We  are  not  in  1793;  we  are  in  1S47;  that  is  to  say, 
we  are  a  nation  which  has  crossed  the  Red  Sea,  and  which 
would  not  recross  it  anew ;  a  nation  which  has  set  foot  upon 
the  shore,  and  would  still  move  onward,  but  which  would  ad- 
vance in  order  and  peace  to  democratic  institutions ;  a  nation 
which  would  warn  its  mistaken  government,  but  which,  in  rais- 
insT  its  voice  to  make  it  audible,  would  terrify  neither  peaceful 
citizens,  nor  honest  interests,  nor  legitimate  opinions.  Let  us, 
members  of  the  regular  democracy,  be  wan,'.  If  we  are  con- 
founded with  demagogues,  we  shall  be  ruined  in  public  opinion. 
It  will  be  said  of  us  — '  They  wear  their  liver}',  hence  they 
have  their  madness  !' " 

XIX. 

In  regard  to  the  Communist  banquet  of  Autun,  M.  de  La- 
manine,  on  the  14th  of  November,  expressed  himself  with  the 
same  freedom  : 

"  Each  idea  has  its  limits,"  cried  he,  "  limits  which  it  must 
not  pass,  on  pain  of  being  misconstrued,  and  of  bearing  the  just 
penalty  of  its  disguise  by  submitting  to  the  disgrace  which  is 
anached  to  other  ideas.  Do  you  belong  to  the  democratic,  but 
loyal,  moderate  and  patient  opposition  ?  Come  with  us.  Are 
you  factious  ?  Go  and  conspire  in  darkness.  Are  you  Com- 
munists ?  Go  and  applaud  at  the  banquet  of  Autun.  Until 
all  this  matter  is  cleared  up,  we  will  remain  where  we  are. 
For  we  would  recall  the  countrj''  to  political  life,  give  due 
weight  to  public  opinion,  create  a  decent  democracy,  capable  of 
self-enlightenment,  of  restraining  itself  by  its  own  dignity,  of 
meeting  without  alarming  or  instilting  wealth,  or  miserj',  or 
aristocracy,  or  bourgeoisie,  or  the  people,  or  religion,  or  family. 


24 


HISTORY    OF   THE    REVOLUTION    OF    1S48. 


or  property ;  in  fine,  we  would  prepare  for  France  assemblies 
worthy  of  its  own  great  National  Assemblies,  and  comitia 
worthy  of  Athens  and  Rome ;  but  we  would  not  reopen  the 
Club  of  Jacobins ! " 

XX. 

Durins:  these  controversies  between  men  who  wished  to  im- 
prove  and  men  who  wished  to  destroy,  other  manifestations, 
inspired  and  directed  by  royalist  ideas,  were  multiplying  in  the 
north  of  the  kino-dom.     There  M.  Odilon  Barrot  obtained  a 

O 

hearing  for  language  grave,  thoughtful  and  sincere,  but  re- 
served, like  his  own  character.  He,  as  well  as  his  friends, 
kindled  the  flame  of  parliamentary  opposition.  Still  these 
addresses  raised  more  indignation  against  the  government  than 
a  banquet-hall  could  contain.  The  people  listened  at  the  doors, 
applauded  the  orators,  and  escorted  them  at  their  entrance  or 
departure  from  towns.  They  were  accustomed  to  place  them- 
selves between  ministers  and  tribunes.  By  the  end  of  autumn 
the  promoters  of  these  anti-ministerial  feelings  in  vain  essayed 
to  moderate  them.  They  had  set  out  to  swell  the  strength  of 
M.  Thiers,  M.  Barrot,  and  the  opposition ;  they  had  been  re- 
cruiting for  the  revolution.  The  impulse  of  the  people  always 
goes  beyond  the  goal  assigned  by  politicians.  Reason  or  ambi- 
tion calculate  —  passion  inundates.  The  people  are  always 
the  embodiment  of  passion.  The  dynastic  opposition  merely 
wished  a  change  of  ministers  to  be  effected  by  the  pressure  of 
masses ;  the  people  were  already  planning  a  change  of  govern- 
ment. Behind  the  people,  the  most  radical  sects  dreamed  of  a 
complete  overthrow  of  society. 


SEs:: 


BOOK    II 


I. 

Such  was  the  mental  condition  of  France  at  the  close  of 
1847,  when  the  king-  convoked  the  Chambers.  The  ministry 
and  the  king,  astonished  but  not  alarmed  at  these  demonstra- 
tions of  opinion,  which  they  regarded  as  purely  factious,  as  a 
verbal  and  ostentatious  discontent,  which,  in  their  opinion,  had 
no  actual  existence  in  the  minds  of  men,  confided  in  the  im- 
mense majority  possessed  by  the  government  in  the  Chambers, 
in  the  fidelity  of  an  army  commanded  by  the  princes,  and  in 
the  innumerable  interests  of  order,  property,  industry,  and  com- 
merce, which  were  all  repugnant  to  a  change.  A  material 
government,  they  despised  the  intellectual  elements  of  opposi- 
tion. In  their  view,  M.  Odilon  Barrot  was  only  a  man  gifted 
with  eloquence,  but  devoid  of  will ;  M.  Ledni  Rollin,  a  man  of 
noisy  popularity,  employing  the  threat  of  a  republic,  without 
believing  in  it,  to  discountenance  and  mislead  the  opposition  ; 
the  press  and  the  banquets  were  only  a  conspiracy  of  ambitious 
men,  appealing  to  the  passions  of  the  public  streets  to  avenge 
their  impotence  in  the  popular  representation. 

M.  Guizot  was  encouraged  by  the  self-confidence  and  disdain 
of  the  vulgar  which  formed  the  basis  of  his  nature ;  M.  Du- 
chatel,  by  his  skilful  management  of  parliamentary  parties,  and 
the  curb  of  the  votes  which  he  held  in  his  supple  hands ;  and 
the  king,  by  his  importance  to  France  in  1830,  by  his  bar- 
gain with  the  European  authorities,  who  confided  in  the  sta- 
bility of  his  throne,  and,  finally,  by  the  constant  smile  of  for- 
tune, which,  by  dint  of  serving  and  dazzling,  ended  by  blinding 
him.  These  three  men,  in  whom  rested  the  prestige,  the 
strength  and  skill  of  the  cabinet,  expected,  with  unyielding 
confidence,  that  all  this  movement  and  noise  of  opposition 
would  perish  at  the  foot  of  the  throne  and  the  tribune,  before 
the  eloquence  of  M.  Guizot,  the  tactics  of  M.  Duchatel,  and 
the  ancient  authority  of  the  king.  They  did  not  doubt  that 
the  majority  in  the  two  Chambers  would  pronounce  a  conspicu- 
3* 


26  HISTORY    OF   THE 

ous  denunciation  against  the  agitation  and  the  threats  of  par- 
ties. They  resolved  themselves  to  provoke  this  denunciation, 
by  alluding,  in  the  address  of  the  king  to  the  Chambers,  to  the 
conduct  of  the  deputies  and  peers  who  had  been  present  at  the 
reform  banquets. 

11. 

The  address  of  the  king  to  the  Chambers  contained  a  phrase 
which  designated  the  associates  of  the  reform  banquets  as 
hostile  or  blind.  There  were  many  of  them  in  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  and  some  in  the  Chamber  of  Peers.  These  imprudent 
'  words  served  as  the  leading  text  in  the  discussion  of  the  address. 
It  was  warm,  keen,  and  angry.  M.  Thiers  stigmatized  the 
foreign  policy  which  surrendered  Italy  and  Switzerland.  M. 
de  Lamartine  depicted,  from  his  point  of  view,  the  exclusively 
dynastic  policy ;  Austrian  at  Rome,  priestly  at  Berne,  Russian 
at  Cracovia,  and  everywhere  counter-revolutionary.  On  the 
question  of  the  banquets,  M.  Odilon  Barrot  spoke  with  the 
authority  of  a  constitutional  leader  of  the  opposition.  Lamar- 
tine, though  he  was  not  personally  associated  with  the  ban- 
quets, maintained  that  the  ministry  ought  to  regulate,  and  not 
brutally  suppress,  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  meeting. 

"  No,  gentlemen,"  he  replied  to  the  ministers,  "  you  deceive 
yourselves ;  here  is  no  artificial  agitation,  as  you  describe  it. 
This  furnace  is  not  fanned  by  the  breath  of  man.  It  would 
not  have  had  this  universality  and  this  character  which  alarm 
you  justly  now.  Whence  comes  this  phenomenon  in  a  country 
which  has  been  patient  for  seventeen  years  ?  This  phenome- 
non is  generated,  because  the  nation  has  at  last  estimated  the 
obstinacy  of  the  false  system  by  which  it  has  been  dragged 
beyond  all  its  interior  lines,  beyond  its  whole  policy,  dignity, 
and  even  safety,  to  the  exterior.  But  now,  when,  after  having 
maturely  reflected,  it  has  finally  adopted  its  convictions  ;  when 
it  has  seen  this  obstinate  system  of  interior  legal  restriction,  of 
an  actual  oligarchy,  established  in  the  place  of  the  great  regular 
democracy  promised  by  1830 ;  when  it  has  seen  this  system 
changing  hands  without  chano-incr  measures  —  still  the  same 
things  under  different  men ;  when  it  has  seen  corruption  ascend- 
ing this  year,  like  an  impure  wave,  to  the  verj-  foot  of  public 
power,  the  scum  of  the  most  sordid  vices  rising  to  the  surface 
of  political  society,  instead  of  sinking,  as  it  commonly  does,  to 
the  lees  of  nations  ;  when  it  has  seen  the  foreign  policy  of  the 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S48.  27 

last  eighteen  years,  a  policy  to  which  you  haa  yourseives 
laboriously  and  nobly  attached  it,  the  policy  of  peace,  suddenly 
sapped  by  your  own  hands,  for  a  family  advantage,  a  dynastic 
interest,  by  Spanish  marriages ;  when  it  has  witnessed  the 
sacrifices  of  its  natural  and  constitutional  alliances  to  repug- 
nant alliances  with  the  oppressive  enemies  of  Switzerland  and 
Italy ;  when  it  has  finally  seen  France  systematically,  as  it 
were,  involved  by  you  in  a  cordon  of  counter-revolutions,  then 
indeed  has  it  been  agitated ;  and  it  has  shown,  by  its  very 
emotion,  that  it  is  a  wise  and  prudent  countr}'. 

"  And  what  would  you  have  thought,  what  would  you  have 
said,  if,  instead  of  manifesting  this  anxiety  and  agitation  in 
broad  day-light,  it  had  waited,  in  perfidious  silence,  till  the 
seeds  of  disatfection,  sown  by  you  through  so  many  years,  had 
germinated  in  the  minds  of  the  people ;  and  that,  on  a  given 
day,  instead  of  this  constitutional  agitation,  instead  of  this 
opinion  which  finds  open  utterance,  you  had  had  mines  exploding 
everywhere  beneath  the  feet  of  government  ?  Then  you  might 
have  brought  accusations;  then  you  might  have  said,  You 
act  like  factious  men  and  conspirators  —  you  deceive  the  govern- 
ment by  hiding  in  perfidious  silence  the  discontent  of  public 
opinion.  This  is  what  you  condemn  —  and  for  this  you 
threaten,  not  to  employ  those  evident  laws  to  which  every  good 
citizen  pays  obeisance,  but,  without  laws,  with  at  least  equivo- 
cal laws,  —  shall  I  say  against  all  existing  laws  ?  —  you  menace 
the  representatives  themselves  with  placing  the  hand  of  the 
police  on  the  lips  of  the  nation  ! 

"  The  government  had,  and  has  yet,  the  arm  of  the  law. 
Knowing  that  it  was  not  armed  by  former  legislation  against  a 
new  fact  presented  with  this  universality  and  intensity  through- 
out the  country,  it  might  present  a  libera]  and  regulating  law, 
establishing  but  not  annihilating  the  right;  a  law  which  we 
will  discuss  loyally,  and  to  which,  when  it  shall  have  been 
enacted,  we  will  yield  obedience,  as  every  good  citizen  is  bound 
to  do." 

The  great  majority  of  the  Chamber  applauded  his  words, 
and  asked  for  the  presentation  of  a  law  on  the  right  of  assem- 
bling (reunio7i).  The  conservatives  themselves  felt  the  danger 
of  the  prolonged  defiance  of  the  ministers  to  the  representa-  , 
tives.  "  Remember  that  you  are  about  to  create  a  great  peril,"-' 
were  the  closing  words  of  Lamartine  to  the  ministers.  "  Re- 
member the  Tennis  Court  and  its  consequences.  What  was 
the  Tennis  Court  of  Versailles  in  17S9  ?     The  Tennis  Court 


28  HISTORY  OF  THE 

was  only  a  place  for  the  political  meetings  of  the  States  Gen- 
eral, closed  by  ministers,  and  opened  by  the  hand  of  the  nation 
to  the  outraged  representatives  of  the  country." 

In  opposition  to  M.  Duvergier  de  Hauranne  and  M.  Barrot, 
M.  Guizot  maintained  the  right  of  the  government  and  the 
Chamber  to  repel  attack  by  attack,  and  to  specify  the  hostility 
or  the  blindness  of  the  agitators.  M.  Hebert,  Keeper  of  the 
Seals,  demonstrated  with  ability  the  danger  of  meetings  with- 
out legal  repression.  He  was  for  a  revival  of  the  laws  of  1791. 
He  rendered  the  debate  more  acrimonious  by  exaggerating  the 
arbitrary  view  of  the  question.  M.  Ledru  RoUin  replied  to 
him  with  a  fire  and  vigor  which  placed  him  in  the  front  rank 
of  the  opposition  orators.  The  anger  of  both  parties  was  in- 
flamed. A  diversion  was  necessary  to  the  passion  of  the 
Chamber  —  an  honorable  issue  from  the  conflict.  This  diversion 
was  evidently  in  the  presentation  of  a  rational  law  on  the 
liberty  and  limits  of  the  right  of  assembly.  The  conservatives 
themselves,  together  with  Messieurs  Duvergier  de  Hauranne 
and  Lamartine,  demanded  this  law.  The  ministry  were  ob- 
stinate. A  revolution  was  about  to  cut  the  knot  which  Pru- 
dence refused  to  disentangle. 

III. 

The  12th  arrondissement  of  Paris  had  arranged  a  banquet. 
The  opposition  had  promised  to  verify  the  right  by  its  presence, 
and  the  banquet  was  to  take  place  on  the  20th  of  February. 
The  ministry  did  not  oppose  it  by  force.  They  merely  proposed 
to  certify  the  offence  by  a  commissary  of  police,  and  to  try  the 
question  by  the  courts  of  law.  The  opposition  was  unani- 
mous for  accepting  the  judicial  debate  on  this  ground.  Every- 
thing was  prepared  for  this  peaceable  demonstration. 

On  the  eve  of  it,  the  ministry,  disturbed  by  a  summons  ad- 
dressed to  the  National  Guards,  without  arms,  by  the  impa- 
tient republicans,  declared  at  the  tribune  that  they  retracted 
their  concessions,  and  would  disperse  the  manifestation  by 
force. 

M.  Barrot  summoned  the  constitutional  opposition  to  his 
house  to  deliberate. 

It  was  proposed  to  keep  aloof  from  the  extreme  resolution 
of  the  government,  and  M.  Barrot  and  his  friends  yielded  to 
this  counsel. 

On  the  next  day  a  second  deliberation  took  place  at  a  resto- 
tator's  in  the  Place  de  la  Madeleine,  and  M.  de  Lamartine,  M. 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S48.  29 

Berrj'er,  and  ]\I.  de  Laroche-jacquelein  were  invited  to  attend. 
They  went  thither.  About  two  hundred  deputies  of  all  com- 
plexions of  moderate  opposition  were  present.  The  course  to 
be  pursued  was  discussed.  The  discussion  was  long,  varied 
and  embarrassing,  and  no  firm  or  worthy  decision  was  reached 
in  any  quarter.  If  the  opposition  receded,  it  would  destroy 
itself,  dishonor  its  name,  and  lose  its  moral  influence  over  the 
nation.  It  would  pass  under  the  Caudine  yoke  of  the  ministry. 
If  it  persisted,  it  would  incur  the  risk  of  conquering  too 
much,  and  giving  victory  to  the  party  which  desired  —  what  it 
feared — a  revolution.  But  revolution  for  revolution,  the  risk 
of  an  advanced  revolution  seemed  more  acceptable  to  certain 
minds  than  a  backward  revolution.  The  debate  was  prolonged. 
Lamartine,  though  opposed  to  the  agitation  of  the  banquets, 
like  MM.  Thiers  and  Dufaure,  could  not  tolerate  the  humili- 
ation of  a  retreat  discreditable  to  liberal  opinions.  He  sud- 
denly replied  to  M.  Berryer,  who  had  made  an  admirable  but 
indefinite  protest. 

"  In  listening  to  the  Honorable  M.  Berryer,"  said  he,  "  who 
had  just  disclosed  to  you  so  frankly  and  so  eloquently  his  noble 
soul,  I  appreciate  too  well  his  hesitation  as  a  worthy  man,  his 
patriotic  anxiety,  and  his  mental  efforts  to  discover  justice, 
truth  and  light  in  the  terrible  crisis  in  which  the  madness  of 
an    aggressive   ministry   places    all   good    citizens,    whatever  i 

national  opinion  they  embrace.  I  recognize  my  own  thoughts 
in  his,  I  find  my  own  heart  in  his. 

"  I,  too,  like  him,  like  all  of  you,  have  meditated  on  the 
most  honorable,  the  most  national,  the  most  prudent,  and  the 
same  time  the  firmest  part  to  be  taken  in  the  cruel  alternative 
in  which  we  are,  as  it  were,  imprisoned  by  circumstances.  And 
I,  too,  have  perceived  the  combinations  of  different  parties, 
rendering  our  present  and  future  difficulties  more  complicated. 
I,  too,  have  noticed  some  gaps  in  our  ranks  since  the  time  is 
approaching,  but  I  have  not  stopped  there.  Of  what  import 
to  us  is  the  absence  of  men  in  crises  of  this  nature  ?  I  never 
inquire  where  such  and  such  men  are.  I  only  ask  what  the 
lights  of  my  country  are. 

"  We  are  told  that  the  crisis  is  important,  and  the  circum- 
stances stringent,  and  may  be  fraught  with  very  dangerous 
responsibility  for  the  firm  men  who  lead  it  on  in  the  name  of 
their  country.  Gentlemen,  I  am  more  convinced  of  this  than 
the  speakers  ;  it  would  be  blindness  not  to  see  these  dangers, 
and  weakness  to  disguise  them  from  you.     The  crowd  are 


30  HISTORY    OF    THE 

always  in  danger,  even  when  they  have  assembled  in  the 
most  just  and  legitimate  sentiment  of  their  duties  and  their 
rights.  We  know  it ;  we  know  the  truthful  saying  of  antiquity  : 
'  Whoever  assembles  the  people  agitates  them  by  the  very 
convocation.'  Yes,  the  political  horizon,  the  near  horizon,  the 
horizon  of  this  very  week,  is  loaded  with  cares  and  eventuali- 
ties, at  which  my  mind  has  paused,  and  paused,  like  you. 
Yes,  I  have  reflected,  and  at  this  moment  am  still  reflecting,  in 
cruel  perplexity,  in  the  presence  of  myself  and  of  you.  Yes, 
in  the  midst  of  a  doubt  so  onerous  for  our  responsibility  as 
men  of  character  and  feeling,  I  do  not  consult  my  intelligence 
only.  I  go  deeper  into  myself ;  I  strike  my  breast,  I  interrogate 
my  conscience  before  the  Supreme  Judge  of  intentions  and 
acts,  and  thus  put  the  question  on  which  you  are  deliberating." 
[Sensation.) 

"  What  is  our  situation  ? 

"  We  are  placed,  by  the  provocation  of  the  government, 
between  shame  and  danger. 

"  This  is  the  appropriate  title  of  our  position.  I  know  it, 
and  your  assent  shows  me  I  am  perfectly  correct."  {Yes  !  yes!) 
"  We  are  placed  between  shame  and  peril."     (Assent.) 

"  Shame,  gentlemen  !  Perhaps  we  shall  be  generous  enough, 
great  enough,  devoted  enough,  to  accept  it  for  ourselves.  Yes, 
I  feel  that,  for  my  part,  I  should  accept  it —  I  would  accept  my 
thousandth  or  my  hundred  thousandth  portion  of  shame ;  I 
would  accept  it  blushing,  but  blushing  proudly  to  prevent,  at 
this  cost,  an  accidental  commotion  from  shaking  the  soil,  a 
single  drop  of  the  generous  blood  of  a  French  citizen  from 
staining  only  one  pavement  of  Paris  I 

"  I  feel  myself,  and  you  all  feel  yourselves,  capable  of  this 
sacrifice.  Yes,  shame  be  our  portion  rather  than  a  drop  of 
blood  be  shed  by  the  people  or  the  troops,  on  our  responsibility. 

"But  the  shame  of  our  country,  gentlemen?  The  shame 
of  the  cause  of  constitutional  liberty  ?  The  shame  of  the 
character  and  rights  of  the  nation  ?  No,  no,  no  —  we  cannot, 
we  must  not,  either  in  honor  or  conscience,  accept  it.  The 
character,  the  rights,  and  the  honor  of  the  nation,  are  not 
ours — they  are  vested  in  the  French  name.  We  have  no 
right  to  traffic  with  that  which  does  not  belong  to  us. 

"  And  what  shall  we  say,  on  our  return  to  our  departments, 
to  those  who  have  confided  to  us  the  defence  of  their  rights 
and  the  care  of  their  dignity  as  a  free  people  ?  What  would 
be  our  attitude,  what  would  be  our  part,  before  them  ?     What ! 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S48.  31 

We  have  enjoyed  with  them,  on  the  faith  of  custom  and  the 
right  of  assemblage  common  to  all  free  people,  on  the  faith  of 
the  restoration,  on  the  faith  of  the  ministers  of  the  revolution 
of  July  themselves,  who  gave  us  the  example,  this  legal  right 
of  political  assemblage ;  we  have  authorized,  by  our  presence, 
or,  like  myself,  by  our  consent,  if  not  by  our  presence,  those 
pacific  meetings  in  which  constitutional  opinions  were  heard 
from  the  lips  of  deputies  or  authorities ;  we  have  encouraged 
the  citizens  to  practise  constitutionally,  wisely,  and  moderately, 
this  right  of  public  emotion ;  we  have  said  to  them,  if  ^j^ou  are 
attacked  in  this  right,  we  will  defend  it,  Ave  will  save  it  for  you, 
we  will  bring  it  back  to  you  entire,  or  at  least  invested  with  the 
securities  and  rules  which  the  law  alone  has  the  power  of  pro- 
viding for  the  regulation  of  its  exercise. 

"  Yes,  we  have  told  them  this ;  and  now,  basely  yielding,  not 
to  a  law  which  I  myself  demanded  of  the  Chamber,  but  to  the 
capricious  and  arrogant  injunction  of  a  minister,  promulgated 
from  the  height  of  the  tribune,  should  we  accept  his  arbitrary 
interdiction  for  law  ?  Should  we  yield  to  him,  without  legal 
evidence  of  our  resistance  to  force  ?  Should  we  surrender  our 
constitutional  arms  to  arbitrary  power  ?  Should  we  abandon 
our  obligations,  and  what  we  believe  to  be  a  fundamental  guar- 
antee ?  Should  we  give  up  both  liberty  and  the  nation  ?  Should 
we,  without  at  least  a  record  of  the  spoliation,  suffer  the  nation 
to  be  plundered  of  that  liberty  which  is  the  guarantee  of  all  the 
others,  the  liberty  of  opinion  ?  Then  we  should  go  back  to 
our  cities  and  our  departments  and  say  to  our  constituents  — 
'  See  what  we  have  brought  you  back  from  the  legal  battle-field 
whither  you  sent  us  to  fight  for  you  :  the  wrecks  of  your  con- 
stitution— the  ruins  of  your  liberty  of  opinion — the  arbitrary  fiat 
of  a  minister  instead  of  a  national  right ! 

"  '  We  have  placed  the  neck  of  France  under  the  foot  of  a 
ininister.' "     (Acclaviations.) 

"  No !  no !  this  is  impossible.  We  should  be  no  longer 
men  —  this  would  be  no  longer  a  nation.  We  should  instantly 
give  in  our  resignations,  and  disappear  and  wither  in  the  popular 
contempt."     [Reiiewed  acclamations.) 

"  But  do  not  think,"  continued  he,  "  that  these  words  con- 
tain a  wretched  feeling  of  personal  pride ;  I  repeat  it,  the  neg- 
lect, the  degradation  of  ourselves,  is  nothing ;  but  to  wither  and 
degrade  our  country  —  there  is  the  shame,  there  the  crime, 
tljere  the  infamy,  which  we  cannot  accept. 

"Gentlemen,  let  us  speak  calmly  —  the  moment  demands  it. 


32 


HISTORY   OF   THE 


The  question  between  the  government  and  ourselves  is  weighty. 
Let  us  know  thoroughly  what  we  would  accomplish  on  Tuesday 
for  France.  Is  it  sedition  ?  No.  Is  it  a  revolution  ?  No. 
May  God  avert,  as  long  as  possible,  that  necessity  from  our 
country.  What  is  it,  then  ?  An  act  of  faith  and  national  will 
in  the  omnipotence  of  the  legal  right  of  a  great  country.  For 
fifty  years,  gentlemen,  France  has  often,  too  often,  too  impetu- 
ously, perhaps,  enacted  revolutionary  deeds.  She  has  not  yet 
performed  one  great  national  act  by  her  citizens.  It  is  an  act 
of  citizens  which  we  would  accomplish  for  her ;  an  act  of  legal 
resistance  against  arbitrary  measures,  which  hitherto  she  has 
not  known  how  to  oppose,  by  constitutional  means,  and  with 
no  other  arms  than  her  attitude  and  will."     ( Yes  I  yes  I) 

"  It  is,  then,  a  civic  act  we  would  perform,  in  which  France  is 
to  be  our  witness  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  of  Paris.  Let  us 
understand  for  once  how  to  guard,  save,  and  strengthen  by  such 
an  act,  by  an  unshaken  and  calm  attitude,  by  an  appeal  to  the 
justice  and  not  to  the  violence  of  the  country;  let  us  understand 
for  once  how  to  guard  what  we  have  kno\vn  how  to  conquer 
so  often,  but  never  to  preserve  !"     (Assent.) 

"There  are  dangers  in  the  execution  of  this  act?  "V\Tio 
denies  it  ?  But  have  not  the  abjuration  of  its  rights  by  the 
nation,  the  acceptance  of  arbitrary'  power,  the  encouragement 
of  attempts  at  ministerial  usurpation,  the  abasement  of  the 
national  character  before  all  governments,  have  these  not  their 
dangers  also  ? 

"Dangers?  Speak  not  so  much  of  them.  You  will  de- 
prive us  of  the  coolness  requisite  to  prevent  them ;  you  will 
tempt  us  to  brave  them !  It  will  not  depend  on  ourselves  to 
remove  them  from  this  manifestation,  by  all  the  moderation, 
reserve  and  prudence  of  word  and  action,  counselled  by  your 
committee.  The  rest  is  no  longer  in  our  hands,  gentlemen ; 
the  rest  is  in  the  hands  of  God.  He  alone  can  infuse  the  spirit 
of  order  and  peace  into  that  people  which  will  press  forAvard  in 
crowds  to  witness  the  pacific  and  conservative  manifestation 
of  her  institutions.  Let  us  pray  him  to  give  this  token  of  pro- 
tection to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  the  progress  of  nations,  and 
to  prevent  all  fatal  collision  between  the  armed  and  theunaraied 
citizens.  Let  us  hope,  let  us  implore  all  the  citizens  that  it 
may  be  so.  Let  us  abandon  the  rest  to  Providence,  and  the 
responsibility  of  the  government  which  alone  provokes  and  pro- 
duces the  necessity  of  this  dangerous  manifestation.  I  know 
not  if  the  arms  confided  to  our  brave  soldiers  will  aU  be  managed 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848. 


33 


by  judicious  hands.  I  think  and  hope  so ;  but  if  the  bayonets 
should  rend  the  laAV,  if  the  muskets  should  have  balls,  I  know 
this,  gentlemen,  that  we  shall  defend,  with  our  voices  first,  and 
our  bosoms  aftenvards,  the  institutions  and  the  future  of  the 
people ;  and  that  these  balls  must  pierce  our  bosoms  to  tear  from 
tliem  the  rights  of  our  country.  Let  us  deliberate  no  longer — ' 
let  us  act." 

IV. 

Such  were  the  words  of  De  Lamartine.  Enthusiasm  rather 
than  reflection  drew  them  from  him.  Lamartine  had,  till  then, 
carried  his  scruples  to  the  point  of  blaming  severely  the  agi- 
tation of  the  banquets,  as  an  invitation  to  revolution.  At  the 
last  moment  he  seemed  to  change  his  tone.  It  is  true  that  it  was  X 
no  longer  a  question  of  a  reform  banquet,  but  the  right  of 
legal  assemblages,  the  point  being  contested  with,  the  deputies 
by  the  ministr}',  who  employed  open  force.  The  strife  between 
every  shade  of  opposition  and  the  government  was  personified 
in  this  political  duel.  Lamartine  thought  he  saw  both  honor 
and  opposition  involved  in  it,  and  ruin  if  they  recoiled  after 
having  been  advanced  so  far.  The  opposition  of  the  left  centre 
was  growing  weak.  In  becoming  weak  it  would  drag  down  in 
its  retreat  all  the  other  opposition  forces  compromised  in  its 
movements  and  manifestations.  Lamartine  had  never  been  a 
party  to  this  opposition.  He  considered  it  more  personal  than 
national,  more  ambitious  than  politic.  The  secret  satisfaction 
of  once  more  detecting  this  opposition  in  the  very  act  of  Aveak- 
ness,  the  pride  of  going  beyond  it  and  convicting  it  of  want  of 
aim,  perhaps  unconsciously  added  something  to  the  warmth  of 
his  address.  The  fire  of  anger  evaporated  in  these  words. 
The  opposition  of  the  centre  left  once  more  yielded  and  aban- 
doned the  banquet.  The  consequences  which  might  have 
flowed  from  the  discourse  of  M.  de  Lamartine  were  thus 
averted.  He  had  no  connection  with  the  after-movement,  which 
took  another  course. 

But  if  these  considerations  excuse  the  fault  of  Lamartine, 
they  are  not  sufficient  to  acquit  him.  The  impetus  he  had 
given  to  the  opposition  might  have  led  to  a  conflict  as  much  as 
the  obstinacy  of  the  government.  Lamartine  trusted  something 
to  chance.  Virtue  trusts  prudence  alone  when  the  peace  of 
empires  and  the  lives  of  men  are  in  question.  He  tempted  God 
and  the  people.  Lamartine  afterwards  reproached  himself 
sincerely  with  this  fault.     It  is  the  only  one  which  has  weighed 


34  HISTORY    OF    THE 

upon  his  conscience  during  the  whole  course  of  his  political 
carper.  He  did  not  seek  to  extenuate  it  either  to  himself  or 
others.  It  is  a  grave  offence  to  cast  back  upon  God  what  God 
has  imposed  upon  the  statesman  —  responsibility.  There  was 
in  this  a  defiance  to  Providence.  The  wise  man  should  never 
defy  fortune,  but  foresee  and  solicit  it. 


In  the  evening  a  few  deputies  and  peers,  to  the  number  of 
seven  or  eight,  met  spontaneously  at  Lamartine's  house.  They 
resolved  to  accept  alone  the  challenge  issued  by  government, 
and  refused  by  the  opposition  of  the  centre  left,  and  to  repair 
to  the  banquet  to  protest  by  their  presence  against  the  arbitrary 
interdiction  of  the  ministers.  A  few  minutes  later  they  learned 
that  no  banquet  would  take  place.     They  separated. 

Meanwhile  the  government,  with  a  foresight  of  the  events 
which  might  arise  from  much  agitation  and  excitement  in  the 
public  mind,  had  assembled  a  considerable  force  in  and  about 
Paris.  It  was  estimated  at  fifty-five  thousand  men.  The  ar- 
tillery of  Vincennes  was  to  present  itself  at  the  first  summons 
at  the  entrance  of  the  Faubourg  Saint  Antoine.  A  disposition, 
long  and  carefully  studied  from  the  year  1830,  in  case  of  a 
rising,  assigned  militaiy  posts  to  different  corps  in  the  different 
quarters  of  the  city.  Every  insurgent  body  intercepted  by  these 
posts  would  be  divided  into  fragments  incapable  of  reuniting. 
The  fort  of  Mont  Valerien  was  to  be  occupied  by  a  numerous 
garrison,  already  mounted  and  on  the  road  from  Paris  to  St, 
Cloud.  Thirty-seven  battalions  of  infantry,  a  battalion  of  the 
Chasseurs  (V  Orleans,  three  companies  of  sappers  and  miners, 
twenty  squadrons,  four  thousand  men  of  the  municipal  guard 
and  veterans,  and  five  batteries  of  artillery,  formed  the  gar- 
rison of  the  capital, 

VI. 

The  night  was  mute,  like  a  city  reflecting  before  acting. 
The  morning  did  not  announce  a  disastrous  day.  There  were 
no  arms  beneath  dresses,  nor  anger  upon  men's  countenances. 
Only  curious  and  inoffensive  crowds  grew  denser  on  the  boule- 
vards, and  descended  from  the  upper  faubourgs  of  Paris.  They 
seemed  rather  to  be  looking  round  them  than  meditating  any- 
thing.     The  event  seemed  to  spring  from  the  curiosity  which 


REVOLUTION    OF    184S. 


35 


looked  for  it.  The  youth  of  the  schools  —  the  vanguard  of  all 
the  revolvitions  —  united  in  groups  in  the  different  quarters, 
and,  animated  by  their  numbers,  came  down  upon  the  Place  de 
la  Madeleine  singing  the  Marseillaise.  The  people,  electrified, 
responded  to  the  song.  Their  column  swelled  in  size,  traversed 
the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  crossed  the  Pont  Royal,  forced  the 
gates  of  the  palace  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  which  was  still 
deserted,  and  scattered,  without  guide  or  object,  in  the  gardens 
of  the  palace  and  along  the  quays.  A  regiment  of  dragoons 
advanced  on  the  quay,  and  dispersed  these  youth  at  a  walk, 
without  encountering  resistance.  The  infantry  arrived,  the  ar- 
tillery took  up  a  position  in  the  Rue  de  Bourgogne,  and  the 
bridge  was  thus  put  in  a  militarj''  posture  of  defence. 

The  deputies,  sad,  but  not  disquieted,  again  assembled  in 
their  palace.  They  ascended  the  steps  of  the  peristyle,  which 
faced  the  bridge,  and  there  beheld  the  increasing  forces  at  the 
disposal  of  the  monarchy,  and  the  first  wave  of  the  multitude 
who  were  pressed  back  by  the  cavalry  into  the  rue  Royale. 
They  heard  no  cry  or  musket  shot.  The  music  of  a  regiment 
of  chasseurs  sounded  peacefully  before  the  gates  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies,  The  contrast  of  these  festival  airs  and  the 
appearance  of  combat  which  covered  the  quay  thrilled  their 
souls,  and  .produced  a  discord  between  the  ear  and  the  eyes  of 
the  citizens. 


vn. 

Within,  M.  Barrot  laid  on  the  table  of  the  president  an  act 
of  accusation  against  the  ministers.  M.  Guizot,  seeing  this  act 
deposited,  left  his  bench,  went  to  the  table,  read  the  accusation, 
and  smiled  with  disdain.  He  had  extensively  read  and  ^vritteu 
history  ;  his  strong  and  lofty  soul  loved  its  grand  dramas ;  his 
eloquence  sought  occasions  which  would  resound  in  the  future  ; 
his  look  invited  the  contest ;  he  braved  an  accusation,  against 
which  he  was  defended  within  the  house  by  a  majority,  incor- 
porated in  his  own  person,  and  protected  without  by  a  monarchy 
and  an  army.  The  distracted  Chamber  discussed  apparently 
the  administrative  laws. 

The  day,  short  and  dark  as  a  winter's  day,  saw  the  floating 
crowds  increase,  and  some  barricades  erected  to  mark  out  the 
ground  of  the  revolution.  The  insurgent  committees  became 
permanent  in  the  secret  societies  and  the  offices  of  the  repub- 
lican journals.     We   are   ignorant   of  Avhat   occurred    there. 


u\. 


.^ 


i 


A 


^ 


J 


36 


HISTORY    OF   THE 


They  were,  without  doubt,  more  employed  in  observation  than  in 
action.  The  limited  action  of  a  conspirator,  who  can  never 
dispose  of  but  a  small  number  of  men,  has  no  influence  except 
when  it  seizes  on  a  general  idea,  or  a  preexisting  passion.  The 
governments  of  antiquity,  tyrannies  or  despotisms,  might  be 
endangered  by  a  conspiracy  ;  under  free  governments  conspiracy 
vanishes.  The  only  omnipotent  conspirator  in  modern  states  is 
public  opinion. 

Night  came  without  blood  having  been  shed.  It  was  silent 
as  the  day,  disquieted  as  on  the  eve  of  a  great  event.  How- 
ever, the  news  of  a  probable  change  of  ministry,  which  relaxed 
the  danger,  reassured  the  citizens.  The  troops  bivouacked  in 
the  squares  and  streets.  Some  benches  and  chairs  on  the 
Champs-Elysees,  set  on  fire  by  the  children,  lighted  up  the 
horizon  with  an  irregular  illumination.  The  government  was 
everywhere  master  of  Paris,  except  in  that  kind  of  citadel 
fortified  by  the  nature  of  the  construction  and  the  narrow  wind- 
ing of  the  streets,  near  the  convent  Saint  Mery,  in  the  centre 
of  Paris.  There  some  indefatigable  and  intrepid  republicans, 
who  observed  everything  and  despaired  of  nothing,  were  con- 
centrated, either  by  a  concerted  plan  of  tactics,  or  by  the  same 
spontaneous  revolutionary  instincts.  Even  their  chiefs  disap- 
proved their  obstinacy  and  rashness.  They  were  estimated  at 
four  or  five  hundred  in  number,  more  or  less.  Another  detach- 
ment of  republicans,  without  chiefs,  disarmed  during  the  night 
the  National  Guards  of  the  Batignolles,  burned  the  station  of 
the  barrier,  and  fortified  themselves  in  a  neighboring  timber- 
yard  to  await  the  event.  They  did  not  attempt  to  dislodge 
them. 

At  dawn  the  routes  which  led  to  the  gates  of  Paris  were 
covered  with  colunms  of  cavalry,  infantrj'  and  artillery,  which 
the  commands  of  government  had  collected.  These  troops 
were  imposing,  obedient,  well-disciplined,  but  sad  and  silent. 
The  sadness  of  civil  war  clouded  their  brows.  They  took  suc- 
cessively their  position  on  the  principal  streets  branching  off"  from 
the  quarters  which  pour  forth  the  population  of  Paris.  The 
multitude  did  not  fight  e?i  masse  upon  any  point.  Dispersed 
and  floating  bands  disarmed  only  isolated  stations,  broke  open 
the  armorers'  shops,  and  fired  invisible  shots  upon  the  troops. 
The  barricades,  starting  from  the  centre  of  the  church  Saint 
Mery,  were  raised,  branching  out  and  gradually  multiplying 
almost  under  the  feet  of  the  army.  Hardly  were  they  reared 
when  they  were  abandoned.     The  troops  'had  only  stones  to 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  37 

contend  with, —  it  was  a  silent  battle,  whose  progress  was  felt 
without  hearing  the  noise. 

The  Niitional  Guard,  assembled  by  a  tardy  call,  collected 
legion  by  legion.  It  remained  neutral,  and  confined  itself  to 
interposing  between  the  troops  and  the  people,  and  demanding 
with  loud  voice  the  dismissal  of  the  ministers,  and  reform.  It 
thus  served  as  a  shield  to  the  revolution. 


VIII. 

Such  was  the  state  of  Paris  on  the  morning  of  the  twenty- 
fourth  of  February.  The  troops,  fatigued  from  seeing  no 
enemy,  yet  feeling  hostility  on  all  sides,  stood  faithful  but  sad 
at  their  different  posts.  The  generals  and  officers  discussed 
with  low  voices  the  inexplicable  indecision  of  events.  Groups 
of  cavalry  were  seen  at  the  ends  of  the  principal  streets,  en- 
veloped in  their  gray  cloaks,  with  drawn  swords  in  their  hands, 
immovably  stationed  for  thirty-six  hours  in  the  same  place, 
allowing  their  horses  to  sleep  under  them,  trembling  with  cold 
and  hunger.  The  officers  of  ordnance  gallop  by  every  moment, 
carrying  from  one  part  of  Paris  to  another  orders  and  counter- 
orders.  There  was  heard  in  the  distance,  on  the  side  of  the 
Hotel  de  Ville,  and  the  deep  and  winding  labyrinths  of  the  ad- 
jacent streets,  some  firing  from  groups  of  people,  which  appeared 
to  subside  and  become  silent  as  the  day  advanced.  The  people 
were  not  numerous  in  the  streets ;  they  seemed  to  allow  the 
invisible  spirit  of  revolution  to  fight  for  them,  and  that  small 
band  of  obstinate  combatants  who  were  dying  for  them  in  the 
heart  of  Paris.  It  is  said  there  was  a  watch-word  between  the 
masses  of  the  people  and  that  group  of  republicans — a  silent 
signal  of  intelligence,  which  said  to  som^,  "  Resist  a  few  hours 
longer,"  and  to  others,  "  You  have  no  need  of  mingling  in  the 
contest,  and  shedding  French  blood.  The  genius  of  the  revo- 
lution fights  for  all;  the  monarchy  is  falling;  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  push  it ;  before  the  sun  sets  the  republic  will  have 
triumphed." 

IX. 

The  fate  of  the  day  was  at  the  disposal  of  the  National 

Guard.     The  government  thus  far  had  not  wished  to  sound  its 

equivocal  disposition,  by  asking  it  to  take  an  active  part  in  the 

affiiir,  and  fire  on  the  citizens  of  Paris.     General  Jacqueminot, 
4* 


38  HISTORY    OF   THE 

its  commander-in-chief,  intrepid  and  bold  in  person,  but  at  this 
time  sick,  did  not  doubt  but  he  would  find  in  his  officers  and 
soldiers  the  warlike  and  devoted  resolution  he  felt  in  himself. 
The  king,  who,  for  eighteen  years,  had  pressed  the  hand  of 
each  man  of  that  civic  guard  of  Paris,  and  who  knew  better 
than  any  one  what  solid  union  existed  between  their  interests 
and  his  own,  believed  himself  sure  of  their  hearts  and  bayonets. 
The  prefect  of  Paris,  Count  de  Rambuteau,  strongly  attached 
to  the  royal  family,  but  incapable  of  flattering  at  such  a  junc- 
ture those  whom  he  loved,  did  not  partake  this  confidence.  His 
daily  intercourse  with  the  merchants  of  Paris,  from  whom  were 
chosen  almost  all  the  colonels  and  officers  of  this  corps,  had 
revealed  to  him  for  some  time  past  a  silent  discontent,  a  disaf- 
fection— ungrateful  perhaps,  yet  real  —  which  would  not  rise  in 
sedition,  but  might  manifest  itself  in  abandonment  at  the  hour 
of  danger.  He  noticed  it  to  the  king  ;  the  king  repelled  this 
notice  with  a  smile  and  gesture  of  incredulity.  "  Go,"  said  this 
prince  to  him,  "  do  you  occupy  Paris ;  I  will  answer  for  the  king- 
dom." The  faithful  magistrate  retired,  disturbed  at  such  pro- 
found security. 

X. 

The  National  Guards,  called,  in  fact,  on  the  morning  of  the 
24th,  to  interpose  between  the  people  and  the  troops  of  the  line, 
answered  slowly  and  weakly  to  the  appeal.  They  recognized, 
in  the  prolonged  movement  of  the  people,  an  anti-ministerial 
demonstration,  an  armed  petition  in  favor  of  electoral  reform, 
which  they  were  far  from  disapproving.  They, smiled  upon  it 
in  secret.  They  felt  an  antipathy  to  the  name  of  M.  Guizot. 
His  irritating  and  prolonged  authority  oppressed  them.  They 
loved  his  principles  of  government,  perhaps  ;  they  did  not 
love  the  man.  They  saw  in  him  at  one  time  a  complai- 
sance, at  another  an  imprudent  vexation,  of  England.  They 
reproached  him  for  a  peace  too  dearly  purchased  by  political 
servility  in  Portugal;  they  reproached  him  for  the  war  too 
rashly  risked,  for  the  aggrandizement  of  the  Orleans  family,  at 
Madrid.  They  rejoiced  at  the  downfall  and  humiliation  of 
this  minister,  equally  unpopular  in  peace  and  war. 

They  were  not  too  much  alarmed  by  "seeing  the  people  vote 
with  musk"t-shots  against  the  system  pursued  by  the  king. 
This  prince  had  grown  old  in  the  heart  of  the  National  Guard, 
as  in  the  number  of  his  years.  His  wisdom  appeared  to  the 
Parisians  to  have  become  petrified  through  obstinacy.     This 


REVOLUTION    OF    184S. 


39 


obstinacy,  crushed  or  vanquished  by  sed  tion,  appeared  to  the 
bourgeoisie  a  just  punishment  for  too  long  continued  prosperity. 
Everything  was  confined,  in  the  opinion  of  the  National  Guards, 
to  a  change  of  ministry',  somewhat  forced  by  the  agitation  of 
Paris ;  to  the  entry  of  the  opposition  into  the  administration  of 
affairs,  in  the  persons  of  M.  Thiers  and  M.  Odilon  Barrot ;  to 
a  moderate  reform  of  the  electoral  law ;  to  a  Chamber  of  Dep- 
uties made  young  again  and  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the 
countr}'.  The  most  clear-sighted  saw  nothing  more  than  the 
abdication  of  the  king  and  a  regency.  In  a  word,  the  National 
Guard,  by  its  murmurs,  believed  that  it  was  only  making  an 
opposition  in  the  street,  when  it  had  already  made  a  revolution. 
For  the  rest,  they  did  not  doubt  that  the  night  had  yielded 
counsel  to  the  king ;  that  the  new  ministry  would  be  announced 
in  the  morning ;  and  that  the  aimless  emeute  would  vanish  of 
itself,  and  be  transformed,  as  on  the  eve,  to  cries  of  joy  and 
illuminations. 

XI. 

The  Chamber  of  Deputies  had  been  in  session  from  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  in  expectance  of  the  communications 
the  king  would  make  them  through  his  ministers.  They  were 
as  full  of  security  as  the  king  himself.  The  majority,  confiding 
in  their  strength,  and  in  the  number  and  fidelity  of  the  troops, 
were  conversing  quietly  in  their  seats  on  the  different  minis- 
terial combinations  which  the  coming  hour  would  reveal  to  the 
deputies.  A  change  of  power  was  seen  to  be  imminent,  but 
no  one  yet  foresaw  a  change  of  government.  The  pampered 
friends  of  the  old  ministry  were  in  consternation.  Ambitious 
individuals  brightened  at  their  approaching  fortune.  The  inde- 
pendent members  contemplated  with  feelings  of  sadness  the 
struggle  between  two  desperate  parties,  which  might  produce 
the  ruin  of  the  country.  A  painful,  but  still  not  hopeless 
anxiety,  weighed  upon  the  spirits  of  the  assembl}-.  Every 
time  a  man  of  note  entered  the  hall,  groups  were  formed  about 
him,  as  to  anticipate  from  his  lips  the  watchword  of  destiny. 

Still  one  of  the  men  for  whom  Providence  had  reserved  a 
part  in  the  approaching  drama  did  not  foresee  the  catastrophe 
which  was  destined  in  a  few  hours  to  engulf  the  monarchy. 
This  man  was  Lamartine. 

Lamartine  was  the  son  of  a  provincial  gentleman  from  the 
bank  of  Saone. 

His  early  ;outh  had  been  obscure.     He  had  passed  it  in 


40  HISTORY    OF   THE 

Study,  travel,  and  country  retirement.  He  had  held  much 
intercourse  with  nature,  with  books,  and  with  his  own  heart 
and  thoughts.  He  had  been  nurtured  in  a  hatred  of  the  empire. 
This  servitude  possessed  only  an  external  glory,  —  it  was 
mournful  and  desolate  within.  The  study  of  Tacitus  had 
roused  his  heart  against  the  tyranny  of  the  new  Caesar.  Born 
of  a  military,  religious,  and  loyal  race,  Lamartine  had  entered 
the  Eoyal  Guards,  on  the  return  of  the  Bourbons,  like  all  the 
sons  of  the  old  provincial  noblesse.  Impatience  and  disgust  at 
the  service,  in  time  of  peace,  had  induced  him  to  quit  it.  Ho 
had  resumed  his  independence  and  his  travels  over  the  world. 
Poetry,  produced  almost  involuntarily,  had  circulated  his  name. 
This  precocious  reputation  had  secured  him  a  welcome  from 
the  politicians  of  the  day,  M.  de  Talleyrand,  M.  Pasquier, 
M.  Mounier,  M.  Royer  CoUard,  M.  de  Broglie,  and  particularly 
M.  Laine.  Under  their  auspices,  he  had  entered  diplomatic 
life.  His  opinions,  from  that  time  forward,  liberal  and  consti- 
tutional, like  those  of  his  family,  had  displeased  the  court.  In 
1S30,  he  had  only  just  been  appointed  minister  plenipotentiary 
to  Greece. 

After  the  revolution  of  July,  he  sent  in  his  resignation,  from 
a  feeling  of  respect  to  the  decaying  fortunes  of  the  royal  house, 
which  he  had  served,  and  from  that  of  reserve  to  the  ascending 
fortunes  of  the  new  monarchs  rising  into  power.  He  had  spent 
two  years  in  travelling  in  the  East.  The  horizon  of  the  world 
had  enlarged  his  thoughts.  A  sight  of  the  ruins  of  empires 
saddens  but  strengthens  the  philosopher.  As  from  the  eleva- 
tion of  a  geographical  fact,  we  behold  the  rise,  grandeur,  and 
destruction  of  races,  ideas,  creeds,  and  empires.  Nations  dis- 
appear. We  see  only  humanity  tracing  its  course,  and  multi- 
plying its  halts  upon  the  road  to  infinity.  We  discern  God 
more  clearly  at  the  termination  of  this  long  route  of  the  cara- 
van of  nations.  We  seek  to  estimate  the  divine  plan  of  civili- 
zation, and  detect  it.  We  receive  a  faith  in  the  indefinite 
progress  of  human  affairs.  Momentary  and  local  policy  dwin- 
dles and  disappears.  Universal  and  eternal  policy  remains. 
We  depart  men,  we  return  philosophers.  From  that  time,  we 
belong  only  to  God's  party.  Opinion  becomes  a  philosophy. 
This  is  the  result  of  long  travels  and  profound  thoughts  in  the 
East.  The  bottom  of  tho  abyss,  and  the  secrets  of  the  ocean, 
are  only  discovered  afteT  the  ocean  is  dried  up.  It  is  thus 
with  the  bed  of  nations.  History  understands  them  only  when 
they  are  no  more. 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848. 


4. 


mi-    « 
1  a 

ath     [ 


XII. 

During  his  journey  in  the  East,  Lamartine  had  been  nomi 
nated  deputy  by  the  Departement  du  Nord.  He  had  held 
seat,  isolated  from  parties,  for  twelve  years ;  seeking  the  path 
of  truth,  intelligence,  and  philosophy;  speaking  by  turns  for 
and  against  the  government ;  as  void  of  hatred  as  of  love  for 
the  new  dynasty ;  ready  to  aid  it,  if  willing  to  rule  according 
to  the  views  of  a  democracy  increasing  in  rights  as  well  as  in 
power  —  ready  to  resist  it,  if  it  resumed  the  path  of  the  past. 

The  political  principles  of  Lamartine  were  those  of  the  eter- 
nal truth  of  which  the  gospel  is  a  page,  the  equality  of  men 
in  the  eyes  of  God,  realized  on  earth  by  those  laws  and  forms 
of  government  which  give  to  the  greatest  number,  and  presently 
to  all  citizens,  the  most  equal  share  of  personal  participation  in  p 
the  government,  and  thence  eventually  in  the  moral  and  mate-__J 
rial  benefits  of  human  society.  ^ 

Still  Lamartine  recognized  the  rule  of  reason  as  superior  to 
the  brutal  sovereignty  of  numbers ;  for  reason  being  in  his 
view  the  reflection  of  God  upon  the  human  race,  the  sove- 
reignty of  reason  was  the  sovereignty  of  God.  He  did  not 
push  to  a  chimerical  point  the  violent  and  actually  imposs'ble 
equalization  of  social  conditions.  4e  could  not  conceive  of 
any  civilized  society  without  three  bases,  which  seemed  given  by 
instinct  itself,  that  great  revealer  of  eternal  truths,  —  the  State, 
Family,  and  Property.  The  community  of  goods,  —  which 
necessarily  implies  the  community  of  the  wife,  child,  father, 
and  mother,  —  and  the  degradation  of  the  species,  inspired  him 
MHth  horror.  Socialism,  under  its  different  formulse  of  Saint 
Simonism,  Fourierism,  Appropriation  of  Capital  under  pre- 
tence of  freeing  and  multiplying  its  produce,  inspired  him  with 
pity.  Property,  doubtless,  appeared  to  him,  like  everything 
else,  capable  of  being  perfected  by  institutions  which  develop 
instead  of  destroying  it ;  but  the  protection  of  wages  seemed 
to  him  the  freest  and  most  perfect  form  of  the  association 
between  capital  and  labor,  since  wages  are  the  exacted  propor- 
tion liberally  estimated  between  the  value  of  labor  and  the 
wants  of  capital  —  a  proportion  expressed  in  every  free  country 
by  what  is  called  common  consent. 

Still,  as  the  laborer,  pressed  by  hunger,  does  not  possess 
always  and  immediately  his  perfect  freedom  to  estimate  his 
rights,  md  thus  to  proportion  the  price  of  his  labor  to  the  ser- 
vice he  renders  capital,  Lamartine  admitted,  to  a  certain  extent, 


/'\ 


42 


HISTORY   OF   THE 


the  state,  as  the  arbiter,  or  the  great  Prud'homme,  between  the 
contrary  exigences  of  the  two  contracting  parties. 

He  wished,  moreover,  that  the  state,  the  providence  of  the 
strong  and  the  weak,  should,  in  certain  extreme  cases,  deter- 
mined by  the  administration,  furnish  aid,  in  the  shape  of  work, 
to  kxborers  who  found  it  utterly  impossible  to  obtain  bread  for 
their  families.  He  asked  for  a  poor  tax.  He  would  not  have 
abandonment  and  death  the  ultimatum  of  a  civilized  community 
to  the  laborer  destitute  of  food  and  shelter.  He  would  have 
this  ultimatum  —  work  and  bread. 

In  fine,  sensible  of  the  advantages  of  property,  the  true  civic 
right  of  moderr^  times,  he  aspired  to  the  gradual  extinction  of 
destitution,  by  endowing  more  generally  with  property  the 
greatest  number,  and  eventually  all  citizens.  But  the  first 
condition  of  this  successive  appropriation  of  a  portion  of  prop- 
erty to  the  hands  of  all  was  a  respect  for  property  in  the  hands 
of  proprietors,  merchants,  working  men  already  elevated  by 
labor  and  inheritance  to  dignity  and  prosperity.  To  dispossess 
some  to  enrich  others,  did  not  seem  to  him  progress,  but  an 
act  of  plunder,  ruinous  to  all. 

Such  were  his  ideas  of  the  social  measures  which  the  revo- 
lution ought  to  accomplish,  or  rather  which  the  government 
should  perfect,  for  the  advantage  of  the  masses.  As  to  the 
form  of  government,  he  had,  in  his  History  of  the  Girondists, 
expressed  his  sincere  views  on  the  monarchical  and  republican 
forms  of  government.  We  shall  repeat  them ;  these  pages  com- 
prise the  whole  man. 


XIII. 

It  will  seem  by  these  pages  that  the  question  of  government 
was  to  Lamartine  one  of  circumstance,  rather  than  principle. 
It  is  evident,  that  if  the  constitutional  government  of  Louis 
Philippe  had  honestly  labored  to  accomplish  gradually  and 
completely  the  two  or  three  moral  or  material  measures  de- 
manded by  the  epoch,  Lamartine  would  have  defended  the 
monarchy.  For  in  his  calm  and  rational  appreciation  of  the 
happiness  of  nations  and  individuals,  stability  and  order  cer- 
tainly seemed  to  him  weighty  conditions  of  repose.  Now, 
repose  is  a  good.  But  Lamartine  knew  that  the  seated  powers, 
to  use  an  expression  he  employed  in  the  Girondins,  almost 
inflexibly  refused  to  engage  in  these  labors  of  transformation, 
which  are  almost  always  concussions.     While  himself  refus- 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848. 


43 


mg  conscientiously  to  provoke  a  revolution,  in  his  own  mind  he 
was  reconciled  to  the  perspective  of  an  involuntary  revolution, 
if  the  force  of  circumstances  embraced  one.  He  was  resolved 
to  brave  its  tempests  and  its  perils,  —  to  direct  it,  on  the  one 
hand,  to  the  accomplishment  of  ideas  which  he  believed  to  be 
matured,  and,  on  the  other,  confine  it,  as  far  as  he  could,  within 
the  limits  of  justice,  prudence,  and  humanity. 

The  two  principal  ideas  which  Lamartine  thought  sufficiently 
pure  and  sufficiently  matured  to  be  worth  the  effort  of  a  revo- 
lution were  entirely  disinterested.  They  concerned  only  the 
cause  of  God  and  humanity.  They  satisfied  no  personal  inter- 
ests or  passions  of  his  own  ;  or,  at  least,  they  were  the  passions 
of  a  philosopher,  and  not  of  an  ambitious  man.  He  had  noth- 
ing to  gain,  and  much  to  lose  by  it.  He  only  asked  of  this 
prospective  revolution  permission  to  sen'e  it,  and  give  his  heart, 
his  reason,  and  perhaps  his  life,  to  its  cause.  These  two  ideas 
were  worthy  of  such  a  sacrifice. 

One  was  the  accession  of  the  masses  to  political  rights,  to 
prepare  for  their  progressive,  inoffensive,  and  regular  advance- 
ment to  justice ;  that  is  to  say,  to  equality  of  standing,  intel- 
ligence, relative  well-being  in  society. 

The  second  was  the  absolute  emancipat  jon  of  the  conscience  ' 
of  the  human  race,  not  by  the  destruction  but  by  the  complete 
liberty,  of  religious  creeds.  The  means,  in  his  eyes,  was  the 
final  separation  of  Church  and  State.  So  long  as  the  Church 
and  State  were  bound  together  by  simoniacal  contracts,  by  sal- 
aries received  and  by  investitures  given,  the  State  appeared 
to  him  interposed  between  God  and  the  human  conscience. 
Religions,  on  their  side,  appeared  to  him  adulterated  or  pro- 
faned, in  descending  thus  from  their  majesty  of  voluntary 
faiths  to  the  servdie  condition  of  political  magistracies.  "  The 
revolution  of  '89,"  he  had  said  from  the  tribune,  "has  con- 
quered liberty  for  every  one  excepting  God.  Rehgious  truth  is 
the  prisoner  of  the  law,  or  enslaved  by  the  salaries  or  partial 
favors  of  governments.  We  must  restore  its  independence, 
and  abandon  it  to  its  natural  radiation  over  the  human  mind. 
In  becoming  more  free,  it  will  become  more  true  ;  in  becoming 
more  true,  it  will  become  more  holy  ;  in  becoming  more  holy 
and  more  free,  it  wiU.  become  more  effective.  It  is  now  but 
law ;  it  will  be  faith.  It  is  now  but  the  letter  ;  it  will  be  spirit. 
It  is  now  but  a  formula  ;  it  will  be  action." 

Lamartine  was  born  religious,  as  the  air  was  created  trans- 
parent.    The  sentmient  of  God  was  so  inseparable  from  his 


44  HISTORY   OF   THE 

soul,  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  distinguish  politics  from 
religion.  All  progress  which  did  not  end  in  a  more  luminous 
knowledge  and  a  more  active  adoration  of  the  creator,  source, 
and  end  of  humanity,  seemed  to  him  a  groping  and  aimless 
march  in  nothingness. 

But  in  calling  with  all  his  aspirations  and  all  his  acts  for  a 
progress  in  faith  and  adoration,  Lamartine  did  not  wish  this 
progress  but  by  the  action  of  universal  reason  upon  all,  and  of 
each  man  upon  his  own  reason.  He  had  a  horror  of  persecu- 
tions, of  violence,  or  even  of  the  delusions  of  conscience.  He 
respected  sincerely  in  others  that  organ,  the  most  inviolable  of 
all  those  of  which  man  is  formed,  faith.  He  venerated  faith 
and  piety,  under  whatever  holy  form  they  may  have  animated, 
instructed,  and  consoled  his  brethren.  He  called  to  mind  the 
innumerable  and  holy  virtues  of  which  Catholicism,  understood 
otherwise  than  he  himself  understood  it,  was  the  divine  spring 
in  the  heart  of  believers.  He  would  have  died  for  the  inviola- 
bility of  the  sincere  and  conscientious  worship  of  the  last  of 
the  faithful.  He  desired  that  religions  should  themselves  cast 
off  the  antiquity  with  which  they  were  invested ;  he  did  not 
wish  that  they  should  be  violently,  or  even  irreverently,  de- 
spoiled. His  only  apostle  was  liberty ;  it  is  the  only  worthy 
minister  of  God  in  the  minds  of  men.  He  respected  the  priest- 
hood, provided  the  priesthood  was  the  voluntary  magistracy  of 
the  soul,  armed  with  faith,  and  not  with  law.  His  system  of 
the  liberty  of  worship  by  association  alone  was  rational,  pious, 
and  opposed  to  revolutionary  in  the  bad  sense  of  that  word. 

XIV. 

These  were  the  two  secret  moving  principles  which  urged 
Lamartine  not  to  make,  but  to  accept,  a  revolution,  or,  at  least, 
a  complement  of  a  revolution.  For,  he  did  not  conceal  from 
himself  at  all  the  difficuUies,  the  dangers  and  the  misfortunes, 
which  every  revolution  draws  after  it.  He  loved  democracy, 
as  justice.  He  abhorred  the  principles  of  the  demagogue,  as 
the  tyranny  of  the  muUitude.  God  has  composed  humanity, 
as  he  has  composed  man,  of  a  principle  of  good,  and  of  a  prin- 
ciple of  evil.  There  is  a  portion  of  virtue  and  a  portion  of 
vice  and  crime  iri  the  masses,  as  in  individuals.  This  vice  and 
this  crime  are  agitated  and  exalted  in  revolutions.  Everything 
which  puts  them  in  motion  appears  to  multiply  them,  until  the 
cahn  is  renewed,  and  their  nature  draws  them  to  the  bottom. 


f 


REVOLUTION    OF    ISIS.  45 

It  is  the  war  of  the  foam  against  the  ocean.  Tlie  ocean,  in 
becoming  calm,  triumphs  always,  and  swallows  up  the  foam. 
But  it  has  none  the  less  been  stained.  Lamartine  kneAv  that. 
He  trembled  beforehand  at  the  excesses  of  the  demagogue. 
He  was  resolved  to  resist  it,  and  to  die,  if  necessar}',  to  preserve 
from  its  delirium  and  its  fury  the  pure  party  of  the  people,  and 
the  calm  majesty  of  a  revolution. 

XV. 

Now,  while  he  heard  and  saw,  without  well  comprehending 
it,  a  movement  more  like  a  tumult  than  a  revolution,  which 
was  concentrated  in  some  of  the  streets  in  the  centre  of  Paris, 
see  what  was  accomplished. 

On  the  evening  of  the  twenty-third,  a  few  minutes  after  sun- 
set, the  crowd,  satisfied  with  a  change  of  ministry,  inundated 
the  boulevards  and  the  streets,  clapping  their  hands  at  the  illu- 
minations which  glittered  upon  the  facades  of  the  houses.  A 
feeling  of  peace  and  inward  joy  reposed  at  the  bottom  of  the 
hearts  of  the  citizens.  It  was  like  a  silent  proclamation  of 
reconciliation  and  concord,  after  an  abortive  outbreak  between 
the  king  and  the  people.  They  knew  that  the  king,  not  van- 
quished but  shaken,  had  called  successively  to  the  Tuileries 
M.  Mole,  M.  Thiers,  M.  Barrot. 

M.  Mole,  a  man  of  politic  temperament,  experienced  in  crises, 
agreeable  to  courts,  esteemed  by  the  conservatives,  loved  by  the 
high  bourgeoisie,  one  of  those  aristocracies  by  birth  and  char- 
acter, whose  superiority  is  so  natural  that  the  most  jealous 
democracy  is  honored  by  acknowledging  and  loving  them. 

M.  Thiers,  chief  of  the  personal  opposition  to  the  king,  a 
man  whose  talent,  ready  for  everj^thing,  and  capable  of  the 
most  unexpected  movements,  could  equally  astonish  the  con- 
servatives, rule  the  king,  or  fascinate  the  people. 

M.  Barrot,  imsuited  to  the  government  so  far  as  concerned 
the  inflexibility^  and  popularit}'  of  his  principles,  but  whom  the 
extremity  of  the  danger  now  rendered  necessary,  and  whose 
name  alone  promised  to  the  people  the  last  administration  pos- 
sible behveen  royalty  and  a  republic. 

His  opinions  placed  M.  Barrot  upon  the  last  boundaries  of 
raonarchy.  He  was  the  Lafayette  of  1848.  His  eloquence 
(\'as  of  a  nature  to  give  force  and  eclat  to  a  ministrj'.  His 
character,  of  undisputed  purity,  sometimes  bent  by  complai- 
sance and  indecision  of  mind,  never  by  feebleness  of  heart, 
5 


46  mSTORY   OF   THE 

made  him  a  serious  and  almost  inviolable  idol  of  the  people 
He  was  the  opposition  personified,  but  the  opposition  freed  from 
every  other  ambition  but  that  of  honorable  glory.  Such  a  man 
seemed  to  have  been  reserved  aside,  during  eighteen  years,  to 
save  at  the  last  hour  the  conquered  king,  who  threw  himself 
into  his  anns. 

XVI. 

These  negotiations  were  not  finished  during  the  evening  of 
the  twenty-third.  The  king  had  remained  deaf  to  the  con- 
ditions proposed  by  M.  Mole.  A  change  of  men  appeared  to 
this  prince  a  sufficient  sacrifice  for  the  occasion.  A  change  of 
measures  seemed  to  him  an  abdication  of  his  own  wisdom. 
As  to  M.  Thiers  and  M.  Barrot,  their  names  were  repugnant 
to  the  king,  as  the  visible  signs  of  his  personal  defeat.  He 
reserved  these  two  names  as  the  strongest  conjurations  against 
the  greatest  dangers  ;  but  he  did  not  believe  himself  seriously 
condemned  to  make  use  of  them.  The  night  was  left  for  him 
to  reflect,  and  to  decide  according  to  the  appearances  more  or 
less  menacing  of  the  following  day.  Nothing  announced  that 
this  night,  which  commenced  with  the  splendors  of  an  illumi- 
nation, was  the  last  night  of  the  monarchy. 

A  small  number  of  combatants,  concentrated  in  that  quarter 
of  Paris  which  forms,  by  the  crookedness  and  narrowness  of 
its  streets,  the  natural  citadel  of  insurrections,  presen'ed  alone 
a  hostile  attitude  and  an  inaccessible  position.  These  men 
were  nearly  all  veterans  of  the  republic,  formed  by  the  volun- 
tary discipline  of  sects  in  the  secret  societies  of  the  two  mon- 
archies ;  trained  to  the  struggle,  and  even  to  martyrdom,  in  all 
the  battles  which  had  made  Paris  bleed,  and  contested  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  monarchy.  Their  invisible  chief  had  no  name 
nor  rank.  It  was  the  invisible  breath  of  revolution ;  the  spirit  of 
sect,  the  soul  of  the  people,  suffering  from  the  present,  aspiring 
to  bring  light  from  the  future  ;  the  cool  and  disinterested  enthu- 
siasm which  rejoices  in  death,  if  by  its  death  posterity  can  find 
a  germ  of  amelioration  and  life. 

To  these  men  were  joined  two  other  kinds  of  combatants, 
who  always  throw  themselves  into  the  tumultuous  movements 
of  seditions  ;  the  ferocious  spirits  whom  blood  allures  and  death 
delights,  and  the  light  natures  whom  the  whirlwind  attracts  and 
draws  in,  the  children  of  Paris.  But  this  germ  did  not  increase 
It  watched  in  silence,  musket  in  hand.  It  contented  itself  with 
thus  giving  time  for  the  general  insurrection. 


DEVOLUTION   OF   1348.  41 

This  insurrection  was  nowhere  manifested.  It  needed  a  war- 
cry  to  excite  it,  a  cry  of  horror  to  sow  fury  and  vengeance  in 
that  mass  of  floating  population,  equally  ready  to  retire  to  their 
homes,  or  to  go  forth  to  overthrow  the  government.  Some 
silent  groups  collected  here  and  there  at  the  extremity  of  the 
faubourgs  of  the  Temple  and  of  St.  Antoine.  Other  groups, 
few  in  number,  appeared  at  the  entrance  of  the  streets  which 
open  from  the  Chaussee  d'Antin  upon  the  boulevards. 

These  two  kinds  of  groups  were  different  in  costume  and  at- 
titude. The  one  was  composed  of  young  men  belonging  to  the 
rich  and  elegant  classes  of  the  bourgeoisie,  to  the  schools,  to 
commerce,  to  the  National  Guard,  to  literature,  and  above  all  to 
journalism.  These  harangued  the  people,  roused  their  anger 
against  the  king,  the  ministry,  the  Chambers,  spoke  of  the  hu- 
miliation of  France  to  the  foreigner,  of  the  diplomatic  treasons 
of  the  court,  of  the  corruption  and  insolent  servility  of  the  depu- 
ties sold  to  the  discretion  of  Louis  Philippe.  They  discussed 
aloud  the  names  of  the  popular  ministers  Avhom  the  insurrection 
must  impose  upon  the  Tuileries.  The  numerous  loiterers  and 
persons  passing  by,  eager  for  news,  stopped  near  the  orators, 
and  applauded  their  proposals. 

The  other  groups  were  composed  of  men  of  the  people,  come 
from  their  workshops  two  days  since  at  the  sound  of  musketry ; 
their  working-clothes  upon  their  shoulders,  their  blue  shirts 
open  at  the  breast,  their  hands  yet  black  with  the  smoke  of 
charcoal.  These  descended  in  silence,  by  small  companies, 
grazing  the  walls  of  the  streets  which  lead  to  Clichy,  la  Villette, 
and  the  Canal  de  I'Ourcq.  One  or  two  workmen,  better  clothed 
than  the  others,  in  cloth  vests,  or  in  surtouts  with  long  skirts, 
marched  before  them,  spoke  to  them  in  low  tones,  and  appeared 
to  give  them  the  word  of  command.  These  were  the  chiefs  of 
the  sections  of  the  Rights  of  Man,  or  of  the  Families. 

The  society  of  the  Rights  of  Man,  and  of  the  Families,  was  a 
kind  of  democratic  masonry,  instituted,  since  1830,  by  some 
active  republicans.  These  societies  preserved,  under  different 
names,  since  the  destruction  of  the  first  republic  by  Bonaparte, 
the  rancor  of  betrayed  liberty,  as  well  as  some  traditions  of 
jacobinism,  transmitted  from  Babeuf  to  Buonarotti,  and  from 
Buonarotti  to  the  young  republicans  of  this  school.  The  mem- 
bers of  these  purely  political  societies  were  recruited  almost  en- 
tirely from  am  mg  the  chiefs  of  the  mechanic  workshops,  lock- 
smiths, cabinet-makers,  printers,  joiners,  and  carpenters  of  Paris. 

Parallel  to  these  permanent  conspiracies  against  royalty,  the 


48  HISTORY   OF   THE 

keystone  of  the  arch  of  privileg-e,  philosophical  societies  we 
organized,  composed  of  almost  the  same  elements, —  some  undwi 
the  auspices  of  St.  Simon,  others  under  those  of  Fourier,  —  the 
former  comprising  the  followers  of  Cabet,  the  latter  those  of 
Kaspail,  of  Pierre  Leroux  and  of  Louis  Blanc.  These  con- 
spiracies in  open  day  were  alone  spread  by  means  of  eloquence, 
association  and  journalism.  Sects  so  far  pacific,  these  societies 
discussed  their  opinions,  and  caused  them  to  be  discussed  freely. 

These  opinions,  whose  principle  was  a  chimerical  fraternity 
realized  upon  earth,  all  lead  to  the  suppression  of  individual 
property.  They  lead,  by  a  direct  consequence,  to  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  family.  The  family  is  the  trinity  of  the  father,  of 
the  mother,  and  of  the  child.  The  father,  the  mother,  and  the 
child  who  perpetuates  them,  renew,  \vithout  cessation,  this  trin- 
ity, which  alone  completes  and  continues  man.  Without  per- 
sonal and  hereditary  property,  this  family,  the  source,  delight,  and 
continuation  of  humanity,  has  no  foundation  to  germinate  and 
perpetuate  itself  here  below.  The  man  is  a  male,  the  woman 
a  female,  and  the  child  a  little  one  of  the  human  flock.  The 
soil,  without  a  master,  ceases  to  be  fertile.  Civilization,  the 
product  of  wealth,  of  leisure,  and  of  emulation,  vanishes.  The 
destruction  of  the  family  is  the  suicide  of  the  human  race. 

These  elementary  truths  were  classed  among  the  number  of 
prejudices,  and  insulted  with  the  names  of  tyranny,  by  the  dif- 
ferent masters  of  these  schools.  Philosophers  or  sophists,  ideal 
adventurers,  these  men,  for  the  most  part  honest,  sincere,  fanat- 
ical in  their  own  chimeras,  went  further  in  imagination  than  the 
social  world  can  carry  the  feet  of  man.  They  wandered  elo- 
quently in  the  chaos  of  systems.  They  caused  to  wander  with 
them,  unfortunately,  simple,  suffering,  credulous  men,  short- 
sighted, with  good  intentions,  but  with  false  ideas,  excited  by 
misery  and  resentment  against  the  actual  world.  These  sys- 
tems were  the  poetry  of  communism,  intoxicating  the  aspirations 
of  Utopians,  and  the  A^engeance  of  those  discontented  with  the 
social  order.  The  nomadic  people  of  the  workshops,  Avandering 
from  their  native  soil  and  the  truths  of  family,  threw  themselves, 
without  perceiving  it,  into  nothingness.  They  were  irritated 
by  the  tardy  realization  of  the  promises  of  their  masters.  Every 
shock  to  the  government  appeared  to  the  members  of  these  anti- 
social societies  a  fulfilment  of  their  dreams.  Without  sharing 
at  all  in  the  purely  republican  and  leveUing  dogma  of  the  society 
of  the  Rights  of  Man,  and  of  the  society  of  the  Families,  the 
Socialists  heartily  joi  led  the  combatants,  hoping  to  find  their 


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UNIVER51,  /  Or  flMi.OIS 


REVOLUTION   OF    1348. 


49 


tie-vsure  under  a  rum.  The  difference  between  these  two  kinds 
of  revolutionists  is,  that  the  first  were  inspired  by  the  hatred 
of  roi'-altj^  the  second  by  the  progress  of  humanity.  The  re- 
public and  equality  was  the  ahn  of  the  one ;  social  renovation 
and  fraternity  the  aim  of  the  other.  They  had  nothing  in 
common  but  impatience  against  that  which  existed,  and  hope 
for  that  wh^cb  they  saw  dawming  in  an  approaching  revolution. 


XVII. 

Towards  ten  o'clo-;k  in  the  evening,  a  small  column  of  repub- 
licans of  the  youpg  bourgeoisie  passed  through  the  rue  Lepelle- 
tier ;  it  formed  a  gi'oap  in  silence  around  the  gate  of  the  journal 
Le  National,  as  if  a  rendezvous  had  been  appointed.  In  all  our 
revolutions,  counsel  is  held,  the  word  of  command  is  given,  the 
impulse  comes,  from  the  journal  office.  It  is  the  comitia  of 
public  union,  the  ambulatorj'  tribune  of  the  people.  We  hear 
a  long  conference  between  the  republicans  within  and  the  re- 
publicans without.  Short  and  feverish  words  were  exchanged 
through  the  low,  closed  window  of  the  porter's  lodge.  The 
column,  inspired  with  the  enthusiasm  which  had  just  been  com- 
municated to  it,  advanced  with  cries  of  Vive  la  reforme  !  d  bos 
les  ministres  I  towards  the  boulevards. 

Hardly  had  it  quitted  the  office  ot  Le  Nfitional,  when  another 
column  of  workmen  and  men  of  the  people  presented  itself,  and 
halted  there,  at  the  command  of  its  chief.  *"  It  seemed  to  have 
been  expected.  It  was  applauded  by  the  clapping  of  hands 
from  within  the  house.  Then  a  young  man,  of  slight  figiare, 
with  fire  concentrated  in  his  looks,  his  lips  agitated  by  enthu- 
siasm, his  hair  agitated  by  the  breath  of  inspiration,  mounts 
upon  the  window-seat,  and  harangues  this  multitudr;.  The 
spectators  see  nothing  but  his  gestures,  hear  nothing  hut  Xhv 
sound  of  his  voice,  and  some  thrilling  phrases  bearing  the  acceiy 
of  the  south.  The  tone  of  this  eloquence  was  popular,  but  ih?'' 
wise  and  imaginative  popularity  which  had  in  it  nothing  of  th*- 
trivial.  It  elevated  the  rue  de  Paris  to  the  eminence  of  th* 
Roman  forum.  It  was  modern  passion  from  the  lips  of  a  ma » 
reared  in  antiquity.  They  thought  they  recognized,  by  the  lighi 
of  the  lamp,  a  man  of  letters  on  the  tribune.  It  was,  said  they, 
]M.  Marrast,  the  editor,  at  once  gay  and  terrible  with  the  sar- 
casms or  invective  of  the  republican  opposition. 

The  effect  of  this  harangue  was  displayed  in  the  impatience, 
t'ne  attitudes  and  silent  shuddering,  of  that  group  of  combatants. 
5* 


50  HISTORY    OF   THE 

They  marched  to  re  oin  the  first  group,  which  appeared  to  direct 
them.  Two  other  silent  groups  also  advanced  at  the  same 
time,  like  a  body  detached  to  a  position  previously  designed. 
The  one  appeared  to  come  from  the  populous  and  ever  tumultu- 
ous quarters  of  the  boulevard  de  la  Bastille.  The  other  from 
the  centre  of  Paris,  having  formed  its  nucleus  in  the  office  of 
the  journal  La  Reforme.  They  had  the  zeal  of  the  most  inde- 
fatigable conspirators  against  royalty,  and  at  their  head  marched 
men  of  action  rather  than  of  words,  who  carried  "arms  under 
their  clothes.  They  marched  like  a  well-trained  band,  and 
watched  for  the  fire,  while  each  combatant  supported  himself 
with  confidence  upon  the  tried  arm  of  his  companion  in  arms. 

The  column  of  the  boulevard  de  la  Bastille  was  more  numer- 
ous, but  less  compact  and  less  powerful.  It  called  to  mind  those 
revolutionary  processions  of  the  same  people,  descending  into 
Paris  on  the  decisive  days  of  our  first  civil  troubles.  We  saw 
there  many  women  and  children  in  rags,  migrations  from  the 
suburbs,  that  come,  from  time  to  time,  to  astonish  the  rich  and 
voluptuous  centre  of  capitals  by  the  spectacle  of  the  poverty  and 
strength  of  the  primitive  people.  These  more  popular  groups 
required  visible  and  striking  symbols  to  rally  them.  They  had 
troops;  they  needed  a  leader.  They  had  an  army;  they  required 
a  flag  and  drums,  colors  and  noise.  They  carried  two  or  three 
flags,  torn  in  the  struggles  of  the  day  and  evening.  They  read 
there  some  trifling  imprecations  engraved  on  the  white  band  of 
the  three  colors. 

•A  man  about  forty  years  of  age,  tall,  slender,  with  his  hair 
curling  and  floating  upon  his  neck,  clothed  in  a  white  frock- 
coat,  much  worn  and  covered  with  mud,  marched  at  their  head 
with  a  military  step.  His  arms  were  crossed  upon  his  breast ; 
his  head  was  a  little  bent  forward,  like  a  man  about  to  meet  the 
bullets  with  coolness,  and  who  marched  on  to  death,  proud  of 
dying.  The  eyes  of  this  man,  who  was  well  known  by  the 
crowd,  concentrated  all  the  fire  of  a  revolution.  His  counte- 
nance was  expressive  of  a  defiance  which  braved  force.  His  lips, 
constantly  agitated,  were  pale  and  trembhng ;  yet  his  martial 
figure  had  at  the  bottom  something  dreamy,  melancholy,  and 
compassionate,  which  excluded  all  idea  of  cruelty  in  his  courage. 
He  displayed  rather,  in  his  posti  re,  his  attitudes  and  his  fea- 
tures, a  fanaticism  of  devotion,  a  madness  of  heroism,  Avhich 
calls  to  mind  the  Delliys  of  the  East,  intoxicated  with  opium, 
before  throwing  themselves  on  death.  They  said  that  his  name 
was  Lagrange. 


REVOLUTION    OF    184S.  51 

Near  the  cafe  Tortoni,  the  rendezvous  of  idlers,  these  three 
columns  united.  They  pressed  aside  by  their  weight  the  crowd 
of  curious  and  unemployed  persons,  who  swayed  to  and  fro 
according  to  the  natural  oscillation  of  the  crowds  on  the  great 
crossings  of  the  boulevards.  A  party  of  inoffensive  people  fol- 
lowed mechanically  the  flanks  of  this  silent  column.  A  small 
detachment,  composed  of  workmen  armed  with  sabres  and  pikes, 
separated  ft-om  the  principal  body  at  the  upper  part  of  the  rue 
de  Choiseul,  and  sunk  without  noise  into  that  street.  This 
detachment  appeared  to  have  for  its  mission  to  march  and  turn 
upon  the  Hotel  of  Foreign  Affairs,  occupied  by  troops,  while  the 
head  of  the  column  attacked  them  in  front.  An  invisible  plan 
evidentl)^  combined  these  movements.  The  unanimous  breath 
of  a  revolution  roused  the  masses.  Conspirators  alone  could 
have  controlled  the  chances  with  so  much  precision,  and  have 
thus  directed  the  evolutions. 


XVIII. 

A  red  flag  floated  amidst  the  smoke  of  torches  over  the  fore- 
most ranks  of  this  multitude.  Its  numbers  thickened  as  it  con- 
tinued to  advance.  A  sinister  curiosity  became  intent  upon 
this  cloud  of  men,  which  seemed  to  bear  the  mystery  of  the  day. 

In  front  of  the  Hotel  of  Foreign  Afl^airs,  a  battalion  of  the 
line,  drawn  up  in  battle  array,  with  loaded  arms,  its  commander 
at  the  head,  barred  the  boulevard.  The  column  suddenly  halts 
before  this  hedge  of  bayonets.  The  floating  of  the  flag  and 
the  gleaming  of  torches  frighten  the  horse  of  the  commander. 
Rearing  and  whirling  on  its  hind  legs,  the  horse  throws  itself 
back  towards  the  battalion,  which  opens  to  surround  its  leader. 
A  discharge  of  fire-arms  resounds  in  the  confusion  of  this 
movement.  Did  it  proceed,  as  has  been  said,  from  a  concealed 
and  perverse  hand,  fired  upon  the  people  by  an  agitator  of  the 
people,  in  order  to  revive  by  the  sight  of  blood  the  cooling 
ardor  of  the  struggle  ?  Did  it  come  from  the  hand  of  one  of 
the  insurgents  upon  the  troop  ?  In  fine,  what  is  more  likely, 
did  it  come  accidentally  from  the  movement  of  some  loaded 
weapon,  or  from  the  hand  of  some  soldier  who  believed  his 
commander  was  "Abounded  when  he  saw  the  fright  of  his  horse? 
No  one  knows.  Crime  or  chance,  that  discharge  of  fire-arms 
rekindled  a  revol  ition. 

TJie  soldiers,  upposing  themselves  attacked,  take  aim  with 
their  muskets.     A  train  of  fire  bursts  forth  along  the  whole 


52  HISTORY   OF   THE 

line.  The  explosio  i,  reverberated  by  the  lofty  houses  and  deep 
streets  of  this  cenire  of  Paris,  shakes  the  entire  boulevard. 
The  column  of  the  people  of  the  faubourgs  falls  decimated  by 
balls.  Dying  shrieks  and  groans  of  the  wounded  mingle  with 
cries  of  alann  from  lookers-on,  women  and  children,  who  flee 
precipitately  into  the  neighboring  houses,  into  the  low  streets, 
under  the  gates.  By  the  glimmering  light  of  the  torches,  which 
are  being  extinguished  in  the  blood  on  the  pavement,  groups  of 
corpses  can  be  discerned  strewing  here  and  there  the  highway. 
The  terrified  crowd,  imagining  itself  pursued,  retires,  with  shouts 
of  vengeance,  nearly  as  far  as  the  rue  Lafitte,  leaving  vacancy, 
silence  and  nigrht,  between  it  and  the  battalions. 


o 


XIX. 

The  crowd  believed  it  had  been  traitorously  thunderstruck 
in  the  midst  of  a  demonstration  of  joy  and  harmony  on  account 
of  a  change  of  ministry.  Its  rage  was  turned  against  ministers 
so  perfidious  as  to  avenge  their  fall  by  torrents  of  blood  —  upon 
this  king,  so  obstinate  as  to  smite  the  same  people  who  had 
crowned  him  by  means  of  their  own  blood  in  1830. 

The  soldiers,  on  their  part,  were  dismayed  by  this  involun- 
tary carnage.  No  one  had  given  the  order  to  fire  ;  —  no  order 
had  been  heard,  except  to  cross  bayonets,  for  the  sake  of  oppos- 
ing steel  to  the  onset  of  the  people.  The  night,  perplexity, 
chance,  precipitation,  had  done  all.  Blood  bathed  the  feet  of 
the  soldiers ;  the  wounded  crawled  along  to  die  between  the 
legs  of  their  murderers,  and  against  the  walls  of  the  hotel. 
Tears  of  despair  fell  from  the  eyes  of  the  commander;  the 
officers  blunted  the  points  of  their  sabres  on  the  pavement, 
while  deploring  this  accidental  crime.  They  felt  in  advance 
the  rebounding  of  this  involuntary  murder  of  the  people  on  the 
spirit  of  the  Parisian  population.  The  commander  hastened 
to  prevent  this  mistake,  b)^  entering  into  an  understanding  with 
the  people ;  —  he  ordered  a  lieutenant  to  go  and  bear  to  the 
crowd  gathered  at  the  corner  of  the  rue  Lafitte  expressions  of 
regret  and  explanations. 

The  officer  presents  himself  at  the  cafe  Tortoni,  which  forms 
the  angle  of  this  street  and  the  boulevard.  He  wishes  to  speak. 
The  crowd  pr  3ss  around  him  and  listen  ;  but  scarcely  has  he 
uttered  a  few  vords  when  a  man,  armed  with  a  musket,  enters, 
pushes  the  spectators  aside,  and  aims  at  the  envoy.  Some 
National  Guards  strike  the  weapon  up,  thrust  back  the  mur- 
derer, and  :onduct  the  officer  to  his  battalion. 


REVOLUTION   OF   18-18.  53 

XX. 

Nevertkiless  the  report  of  the  event  spread  as  rapidly  as  the 
sound  of  the  firing,  along  the  whole  line  of  the  boulevards,  and 
throughout  half  of  Paris.  The  column  of  the  faubourgs,  for  a 
moment  driven  back  and  dispersed,  had  retraced  its  steps  to 
gather  up  its  dead.  Huge  tumbrels,  with  teams  ready  harnessed, 
were  found  at  hand  at  this  advanced  hour  of  the  night,  as  if 
they  had  been  prepared  beforehand  to  cany  about  Paris  corpses 
destined  to  rekindle,  through  the  eyes,  the  fury  of  the  people. 
The  coi"pses  are  gathered  up,  they  are  arranged  on  these  tum- 
brels,—  the  arms  hanging  outside  the  cart,  the  wounds  uncov- 
ered, the  blood  pouring  over  the  wheels.  They  are  borne  by 
torch-light  in  front  of  the  office  of  the  National,  as  a  trophy  of 
approaching  vengeance,  displayed  near  that  cradle  of  the  re- 
public. 

After  this  mournful  pause,  the  car  sets  forward  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  rue  IMontmartre,  and  stops  before  the  office  of  the 
journal  La  Reforvie, —  a  fresh  appeal  to  the  irreconcilable  oppo- 
sition of  the  republic  and  the  monarchy.  Hoarse  cries,  as  if 
choked  by  the  indignation,  and  repressed  sobbing  of  the  retinue, 
rise  to  the  windows  of  the  houses.  A  man,  standing  on  the 
car,  lifts  from  time  to  time  from  the  pile  ftf  dead  the  corpse  of  a 
female,  shows  it  to  the  crowd,  and  lays  it  back  on  the  bloody 
couch.  At  this  sight  the  pity  of  the  passers-by  is  changed  into 
fury  ;  they  run  to  arm  themselves  at  their  houses  ;  the  streets 
become  empty ;  a  line  of  men  anned  with  muskets  march  along 
by  the  wheels  ;  they  penetrate  the  obscure  streets  of  the  popu- 
lous centre  of  Paris,  towards  the  carre  Saint  Martin  —  that 
Slount  Aventine  of  the  people.  They  rap  at  door  after  door,  to 
summon  new  combatants  to  vengeance.  At  the  spectacle  of 
those  accusing  victims  of  royalty,  these  quarters  rise,  rush  to 
the  bells,  sound  the  tocsin,  tear  up  the  pavements  of  the  streets, 
y  erect  and  multiply  barricades.  From  time  to  time,  volleys  of 
musketry  resound,  to  hinder  slumber  from  quieting  the  anxiety 
and  rage  of  the  city.  The  bells  transmit  from  church  to  church, 
onwards  to  the  ea;  of  the  king  at  the  Tuileries,  their  febrile 
pulsations,  precursois  of  tJie  insurrection  on  the  morrow. 


I 

1 


BOOK    III. 


Whu  ■:  the  commotion,  excited  by  vengeance  and  favored  by 
the  night,  was  extending  throughout  all  Paris,  the  king  reflected, 
at  the  sounds  of  the  tocsin,  upon  the  means  of  cahning  the 
people  and  suppressing  the  revolution,  in  which  he  Avas  still 
unwilling  to  see  anything  more  than  an  ivieute.  The  abdica- 
tion of  his  system  of  foreign  policy,  personified  in  M.  Guizot, 
in  M.  Duchatel,  and  in  the  majority  of  the  Chambers,  com- 
pletely gained  over  to  his  interests,  must  seem  to  him  more  than 
the  abdication  of  his  croAvn,  —  it  was  the  abdication  of  his 
opinions,  of  his  wisdom,  of  his  halo  of  infallibility,  in  the  eyes 
of  Europe,  —  of  his  family,  of  his  people,  in  his  own  eyes. 
To  yield  a  throne  to  adverse  fortune  is  a  slight  matter  for  a 
great  soul;  —  to  yield  one's  reno^vn  and  his  moral  authority  to 
triumphant  opinion  and  implacable  history,  is  the  most  painful 
effort  to  be  obtained  from  the  heart  of  man,  for  it  is  the  efTort 
which  breaks  and  which  humiliates  him.  But  the  king  was 
not  one  of  those  rash  and  sanguinary  natures,  who,  in  cold  blood, 
stake  the  life  of  a  people  against  the  satisfaction  of  their  pride. 
He  had  read  much  history  —  was  much  experienced  in  events 
and  their  consequences  —  had  reflected  much.  He  did  not  dis- 
simulate from  himself  that  a  dynasty  which  should  reconquer 
Paris  by  grape-shot  and  howitzers  would  be  incessantly  exposed 
to  the  horror  of  the  people.  His  field  of  battle  had  always  been 
opinion  ;  it  is  upon  that  he  would  act ;  he  desires  to  be  promptlj- 
reconciled  with  it  by  concessions  ;  only,  as  a  shrewd  politician 
and  economist,  he  bargained  with  himself  and  with  opinion,  in 
order  to  procure  this  reconciliation  at  the  least  possible  detri- 
ment to  his  system  and  his  dignity.  He  beheved  he  had  yet 
many  steps  of  popularity  to  descend  before  those  of  the  throne. 
The  rest  of  the  night  appeared  to  him  a  more  than  sufficient 
space  of  time  for  circumventing  the  exigences  of  the  situation 
with  which  the  day  menaced  him. 


=r=:J 


HISTORY   OF   THE    REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  55 

II. 

In  this  state  of  mind  the  king  awaited  M.  Mole,  with  whom 
he  had  already  held  an  interview  in  the  course  of  the  day. 
The  events  of  the  evening  had  bent  his  will  to  some  adjust- 
ment. M.  Mole,  who  was  prudence  and  moderation  by  nature, 
might  doubtless,  three  days  earlier,  have  justly  reconciled  what 
was  demanded  for  the  preservation  of  the  monarchical  principle, 
to  which  he  had  been  attached  all  his  life,  with  what  was 
required  by  the  irritations  of  parliamentary  opinion.  But  M. 
Mole,  discouraged  by  the  interview  of  the  preceding  forenoon, 
did  not  come. 

The  king  then  sent  after  M.  Thiers.  That  minister,  born 
with  the  royalty  of  July,  loaded  with  the  favors  of  the  crown, 
dear  to  the  parliament  by  his  eloquence,  often  ill-satisfied, 
sometimes  an  agitator  at  the  tribune,  never  irreconcilable,  owed 
his  heart  and  his  voice  to  the  perils  of  the  dynasty  which  had 
adopted  him.  Tempered  anew  in  an  opposition  of  seven 
years,  M.  Thiers  could  rally  to  the  king,  on  monarchical  condi- 
tions, all  that  part  of  the  nation  whose  republicanism  was  a 
mere  caprice.  The  name  of  M.  Thiers  signified  the  victory  of 
the  opposition  over  the  personal  obstinacy  of  the  king.  Im- 
posed already  upon  the  king  in  1840,  by  an  almost  seditious 
coalition  of  different  parties  in  the  Chambers,  M.  Thiers  had 
shown  that  triumph  would  not  be  abused  by  him.  At  that 
time  master  of  the  king,  he  had  allowed  himself  to  be  honora- 
bly vanquished  in  his  turn  by  the  king;  he  had  resigned  the 
ministry  into  the  hands  of  M.  Guizot  and  the  conservatives,  at 
the  very  moment  when  he  might  have  forced  the  king  to  retain 
him,  and  Europe  to  be  convulsed,  in  the  interests  of  his  ambi- 
tion. He  had  been  unwilling  to  be  the  Necker  of  the  Orleans 
dynasty,  when  the  imprudence  of  the  coalesced  parties  of  the 
opposition  had  allotted  him  the  part  of  a  minister  master  of  his 
master.  He  confined  himself  to  serving  the  king  in  his  false 
idea  of  placing  royalty  within  a  citadel  by  fortifying  the  capi- 
tal, and  to  agitating  Europe,  by  force  of  diplomacy,  up  to  the 
extreme  verge  of  war,  in  order  to  restore  a  little  martial  popu- 
larity to  his  cause  in  the  negotiations  relating  to  the  East. 
This  unfortunate  conception  of  the  French  cabinet  would  have 
resulted  in  a  retreat  of  the  ministry,  or  in  a  universal  war 
without  allies  for  France.  M.  Thiers,  who  had  marched  reso- 
lutely towards  the  aby&s  at  a  distance,  checked  himself  when 
he  saw  it  yawn  \  jneath  his  feet.    He  had  not  clung  with  crim- 


56  HISTORY    OF   THE 

inal  obstinacy  to  his  error ;  he  had  sacrificed  his  personality 
before  the  danger  of  his  country  :  he  had  not  been  willing"  to 
illustrate  his  name  with  the  blood  of  Europe ;  this  repentance 
had  honored  his  fall  in  the  eyes  of  the  good ;  he  had  retired 
disgraced  in  the  view  of  statesmen,  stripped  of  popularity  in 
the  opinion  of  extreme  factions,  but  elevated  in  the  esteem  of 
impartial  men.  It  is  thus,  at  least,  that  we  understood  his 
rash  accession,  his  agitated  ministry,  his  honorable  retirement. 
History  ought  to  allow  conscience  lo  enter  into  the  apprecia- 
tion of  a  statesman. 


III. 

M.  Thiers,  summoned  at  midnight,  did  not  hesitate  to  come 
forward.  Providence  seemed  to  have  predestined  him  to  assist 
at  the  cradle  and  at  the  funeral  of  this  monarchy.  At  the 
moment  when  M.  Thiers  entered  the  Tuileries,  M.  Guizot  was 
yet  with  the  king.  Illusion  with  reference  to  the  nature  of 
the  movement,  and  imperturbable  confidence  in  the  strength  of 
his  will  and  the  infallibility  of  his  plans,  did  not  permit  it  to 
be  thought  that  any  retrogression,  that  any  self-reproach,  made 
the  spirit  of  the  minister  waver  even  at  this  last  moment. 
His  latest  act  was  a  defiance  of  opinion.  In  retiring  he  pro- 
voked it  again.  The  king  and  the  minister,  dissatisfied  with  the 
military  dispositions  intrusted  to  the  hands  of  General  Jacque- 
minot and  of  General  Tiburce  Sebastiani,  had  just  signed  the 
appointment  of  Marshal  Bugeaud  to  the  military  command  of 
Paris.  Marshal  Bugeaud  was  at  that  time  the  object  at  once 
of  confidence  in  the  army,  and  of  unpopularity  in  Paris;  his 
name  was  a  declaration  of  relentless  war  against  compromise. 

A  simple  colonel  in  1830,  conspicuous  in  that  grade  by  an 
heroic  valor,  and  an  instinctive  knowledge  of  the  art  of  war, 
Marshal  Bugeaud  was  unreservedly  devoted  to  the  new  dy- 
nasty. Commander  of  the  fortress  of  Blaye,  he  had  held  as 
prisoner  the  Duchess  de  Berri :  the  unfortunate  captive  left 
prison  respected  for  her  heroism  as  a  princess,  but  with  a  blem- 
ished reputation  as  a  woman.  That  disclosure  of  a  tender 
weakness  answered  a  political  rurpose  with  the  Orleans  dy- 
nasty, but  shocked  nature.  Marshal  Bugeaud  had  doubtless 
neither  counselled  nor  approved  this  policy  which  trampled 
the  family  under  foot.  But  he  had  the  misfortune  to  find 
himself  in  an  alternative  between  his  duty  as  a  soldier  and  his 
sentiments  as  a  man.     His  situation  had  been  made  a  crime. 


REVOLUTION   OF    1S4S.  57 

A  deep  resentment  was  cherished  against  him,  dating  from 
that  period,  in  the  minds  of  the  royalists.  Since  then  he  had 
treated,  it  was  averred,  certain  quarters  of  Paris  more  like  a 
besieged  city  than  a  capital,  in  the  revolts  which  signalized  the 
last  struggles  of  the  republican  party.  That  party  never  for- 
got the  name  of  the  marshal  in  its  imprecations  against 
monarchal  rigors.  But  the  governor-generalship  of  Algiers, 
exercised  imperiously  during  five  years,  the  subjection  and 
pacification  of  Africa,  indefatigable  campaigns,  a  battle  illus- 
trious by  the  name  of  Isly,  the  absolute  but  detailed  admin- 
istration of  the  province,  the  solicitude  of  a  father  as  much  as 
of  a  general  for  the  army,  the  love  of  the  soldier,  had  recon- 
ciled France  to  the  name  of  Marshal  Bugeaud  ;  his  intelligence 
had  appeared  to  rise  and  enlarge  in  proportion  to  his  honors. 
In  his  exterior,  in  his  manner,  in  his  brevity  of  speech,  which 
cut  without  wounding,  there  was  a  rough  good  sense,  a  mili- 
tary frankness,  and  a  commanding  authority,  which  imposed 
attention  upon  the  masses,  confidence  in  the  troops,  and  terror 
upon  enemies ;  such  a  man,  placed  the  day  before  at  the  head 
of  sixty  thousand  men  of  the  army  of  Paris,  would  have  ren- 
dered the  victory  of  the  people  either  impossible  or  bloody ; 
summoned  at  the  moment  when  the  ministry  was  tottering, 
his  name  was  a  contradiction  to  concessions  ;  it  rendered  them 
suspicious  on  the  part  of  royalty,  unacceptable  on  the  part  of 
the  people. 

IV. 

M.  Thiers  and  M.  Guizot,  the  one  coming  out,  the  other 
entering,  met  at  the  door  of  the  king's  cabinet.  Both  seemed 
summoned  in  vain  to  the  aid  of  a  reign  which  their  two  sys- 
tems of  policy  had  equally  ruined. 

M.  Thiers  took  it  upon  him  to  form  a  ministry  on  condition 
that  M.  Odilon  Barrot,  leader  of  the  oldest  and  widest  opposi- 
tion, should  be  admitted  to  it.  To  reinstate  the  monarchical 
power,  it  must  needs  be  entirely  displaced.  A  parliamentary 
revolution  alone  can  arrest  a  popular  revolution.  The  single 
instinct  of  safety  dircctei  this  measure.  The  king  consented 
to  it. 

The  new  ministry  understood,  moreover,  that  the  nomina- 
tion of  Marshal  Bugeaud  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  troops 
would  henceforth  appear  a  provocation,  and  would  inflame  yet 
more  hotlv  the  combat.  It  desired  a  truce,  in  order  to  negoti- 
6 


68  HISTORY    OF   THE 

ate  with  public  opinion ;  it  ordered  the  suspension  of  hostilities 
for  the  next  day;  it  drafted  a  proclamation  to  the  people. 
This  proclamation,  sent  to  the  police,  was  posted  up  before 
morning.  Reassured  by  these  pacificatory  measures,  which  he 
must  believe  efficacious,  M.  Thiers  withdrew. 

M.  Guizot,  who  had  not  yet  left  the  palace,  again  entered 
the  cabinet  of  the  king;  he  remained  there  an  hour  longer,  in 
close  conversation  with  this  prince.  The  object  of  this  last 
interview  between  the  prince  and  his  minister  is  unknown. 
Without  doubt  it  was  forecasting  for  the  future,  rather  than 
reverting  to  the  past ;  strong  wills  have  illusions,  never  repent- 
ance. The  genius  of  M.  Guizot  was  chiefly  force  of  will; 
this  will  might  be  broken,  but  not  bent,  even  by  the  hand  of 
God. 


At  this  moment  Paris  seemed  hushed  in  silence  and  fatigue. 
The  tocsin  had  ceased  to  sound ;  a  mute  army,  concentrated  in 
the  heart  of  the  old  city  around  the  carre  Saint-Martin,  was 
breaking  up  the  streets,  was  piling  pavements,  those  field-fortifi- 
cations of  the  people ;  innumerable  barricades  everywhere  arose  ; 
shots  reverberated  in  the  distance  at  the  first  dawnings  of  day. 

The  Tuileries  awakened  at  the  sound  of  musketry.  The 
tardy  proclamation,  posted  up  with  difficulty  in  the  revolted 
quarters,  was  not  even  signed.  The  people  saw  in  it  a  snare 
to  entrap  them  into  the  struggle.  Instead  of  disarming,  it 
arms,  recruits,  rallies  and  assembles,  here  in  crowds,  there  in  a 
column,  ready  for  action.  M.  Thiers  repairs  to  the  Tuileries, 
in  order  to  conclude  the  formation  of  his  ministry. 

The  principal  members  of  the  constitutional  opposition, 
attached  to  liberty  by  principle,  to  the  royalty  by  devotion,  are 
found  there,  in  company  with  several  generals,  who  offer  their 
sword  for  the  perils  of  the  day.  Among  those  who  arrive  are 
seen  Marshal  Gerard,  a  veteran  of  the  empire,  the  bosom-friend 
of  the  king,  his  counsellor  and  friend  in  days  of  difficulty ; 
General  Lamoriciere,  invested  with  the  prestige  which  his 
name  had  won  in  Africa,  and  who  commands  a  brigade  of  the 
army  of  Paris ;  M.  Duvergier  de  Hauranne,  an  eminent  mem- 
ber of  parliament,  whose  ambition  is  to  inspire,  rather  than  to 
wield  power ;  M.  de  Remusat,  minister  under  M.  Thiers ;  M. 
Cremieux,  M.  de  Lasteyrie,  and  several  other  members  of  the 
two  Chambers.    The  danger  seems  thus  to  recall  to  the  Tuiler- 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848. 


59 


les  men  who  had  not  crossed  its  threshold  for  a  long  time.  It 
was  an  honorable  but  powerless  effort  to  sustain  a  cause  which 
was  falling  to  ruins.  A  tumultuous  council,  interrupted  every 
minute  by  new  chance-comers,  and  modified  incessantly  by 
contradictory  news  from  without  concerning  the  situation  of 
the  city  and  the  progress  of  the  insurrection,  is  held  in  the 
saloons  which  are  in  front  of  the  king's  cabinet.  The  prince, 
harassed  by  the  anxieties  of  the  preceding  day,  and  the  agita- 
tions of  the  night,  "sposes  on  a  sofa  for  a  few  hours,  wholly 
dressed,  and  amidst  the  murmurs  of  conversation,  in  which 
the  topics  of  discussion  are  his  victory,  his  defeat,  or  his 
abdication. 


VI. 

During  this  brief  instant  of  the  king's  repose,  hours  brought 
new  strength  to  the  insurrection  ;  the  rumor  of  a  massacre  of 
the  people  on  the  boulevard  had  swiftly  spread,  during  the 
whole  night,  from  heart  to  heart.  The  tocsin  had  diffused  as 
far  as  the  faubourgs  that  feverish  agitation  which  leaves  a  man 
no  sleep  and  no  tranquillity ;  every  one  was  up,  armed,  ready 
and  resolved  for  extremities.  The  students  of  Paris — that  intel- 
ligence of  the  people  which  naturally  takes  the  direction  of  the 
blind  force  of  the  masses  —  were  in  commotion  within  the  inte- 
rior of  their  school ;  they  forced  the  gates,  they  issued  by  clus- 
ters from  the  Polytechnic  School ;  they  fraternized  with  the 
bands  of  workmen,  they  put  themselves  at  their  head,  and 
descended,  to  the  singing  of  the  Marseillaise  and  the  Girondins, 
from  their  elevated  quarter  to  the  heart  of  Paris.  A  general 
inspiration  of  a  people's  soul  seemed  to  lead  them  involuntarily 
to  the  military  positions  which  could  most  embarrass  the  troops 
and  rule  the  day ;  each  minute  contracted  the  circle  of  iron  and 
stone  with  which  the  barricades  surrounded  the  palace  and  the 
approaches  of  the  Tuileries;  one  would  have  said  that  the 
soil  of  the  streets  rose  up  itself  to  bury  royalty  beneath  its 
pavements. 

Between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  troops 
concentrated  on  the  two  flanks  of  the  Louvre,  on  the  place  du 
Palais  Royal,  and  on  the  place  de  la  Concorde,  heard  and  saw 
unmoved  the  clamors  and  assaults  of  the  multitude  which 
swelled  around  the  palace  of  the  Tuileries,  and  the  principal 
hotels  of  the  government.  The  attitude  of  these  troops  was 
that  of  astonishment,  fatigue,  and  sadness.     The  soldier  who 


60  HISTORY   OF  THE 

is  not  in  action  loses  all  the  force  of  enthusiasm  and  transport; 
it  is  more  difficult  to  await  death  than  to  brave  it. 

The  National  Guard,  divided,  shovired  itself  in  small  num- 
bers, endeavored  to  exhort  the  crow^d  to  peace,  and  arrest  the 
insurgents  ;  then,  yielding  to  the  pressure  of  the  mass,  to  the 
contagion  of  example,  and  to  their  own  habits  of  discontent, 
drew  up  to  let  the  insurrection  pass  on ;  saluted  it  encourag- 
ingly with  gestures  and  shouts  of  Vive  la  Reforme !  and  in 
some  cases  swelled  it  by  their  defections,  authorized  it  by  their 
uniforms,  and  armed  it  with  their  bayonets. 

The  place  du  Palais  Royal  had  just  been  taken  by  the  peo- 
ple ;  that  palace,  the  ancient  abode  of  the  house  of  Orleans, 
was  sacked  by  the  victors  ;  the  same  people  who  had  so  often 
issued  from  its  door  in  1789,  as  from  the  cradle  of  the  French 
revolution,  and  who  had  come  there  to  seek  a  king  in  1830, 
reentered  it,  after  half  a  century,  as  an  avenger  of  a  fatal  popu- 
larity. Furniture,  pictures,  statues,  were  destroyed  for  the 
sake  of  anger,  rather  than  of  pillage  ;  a  battalion  of  infantry, 
which  had  evacuated  the  court,  and  traversed  the  square  under 
firing  from  the  windows,  had  withdrawn  to  the  Chateau -d'Eau, 
already  filled  with  wounded  Municipal  Guards  ;  a  capitulation 
had  soon  after  permitted  them  to  come  forth.  The  fire  con- 
sumed this  building,  and  some  of  the  wounded,  who  could  not 
move,  expired,  it  is  said,  in  the  flames. 

All  this  took  place  at  a  few  steps  from  numerous  bodies  of 
troops,  motionless  and  stupefied,  as  it  were,  under  the  orders 
by  which  the  king  and  his  new  minister  prohibited  combat. 

The  place  du  Carrousel,  and  the  court  of  the  Tuileries,  were 
occupied  by  in.antry,  cavalry,  and  artillery.  Those  within  the 
palace  seemed  confidently  to  expect  that  the  news  of  a  change 
of  ministers  and  of  promised  concessions  would  suffice  to  pacify 
the  revolt.  M.  Odilon  Barrot  passed  along  the  boulevards, 
surrounded  by  several  popular  chiefs  of  the  National  Guard  ; 
he  hoped  that  his  name,  his  presence,  his  voice,  and  his  acces- 
sion to  power,  would  be  for  public  opinion  a  visible  sign  and 
sufficient  pledge  of  victory  and  concord.  But  already  the  pro- 
longed agitation  of  the  people,  which  had  been  excited  at  the 
banquets  of  his  party,  was  overflowing  this  honorable  and  cour- 
ageous popularity ;  he  devoted  himself  to  the  peril  of  the 
dynasty. 

M.  Barrot,  everywhere  respected  as  man,  had  been  repulsed 
as  conciliator ;  he  sadly  returned  to  his  dwelling.  He  was 
preparing  to  take  to  the  ministry  of  the  interior,  at  the  call  of 


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OF  THE 

UNiv:n:..7o.- .uu!.,ois 


REVOLUTION    OF    1343.  61 

the  king,  a  power  broken  in  advance  in  his  hands  ;  at  the  same 
moment  a  brave  officer,  M.  de  Prebois,  burning  with  a  desire  to 
check  the  effusion  of  blood,  threw  himself,  at  the  sole  impulse 
of  his  devotion,  before  the  waves  of  armed  people  which  were 
flooding  the  place  du  Palais  Ro)'al,  in  order  to  attack  the  Car- 
rousel. "What  do  you  demand?"  said  he  to  them ;  "what 
must  3^ou  have  in  order  to  disarm  you  of  these  fratricidal  weap- 
ons ?  Royalty  is  making  to  public  opinion  all  the  concessions 
which  can  satisfy  you.  Do  you  wish  reform?  It  is  promised 
to  you.  Do  you  demand  the  removal  of  ministers  ?  They 
have  been  dismissed.  Who,  then,  are  the  men  of  your  confi- 
dence, in  whose  hands  you  find  j^our  liberties  secure,  and  your 
wishes  satisfied  ?  The  king  has  just  appointed  M.  Thiers.  Are 
you  contented  ? "  —  "  No  !  no  !  "  replied  the  crowd.  "  He  will 
appoint  M.  Barrot?"  —  "No!  no!"  cried  the  combatants. 
"  But,"  resumed  the  peace-maker,  "would  you  lay  down  your 
arms  if  the  king  takes  M.  de  Lamartine?" — "  Lamartine  ! 
Vive  Lamartine  !"  shouted  the  multitude.  "  Yes,  yes,  there  is 
the  man  we  need  ;  let  the  king  appoint  Lamartine,  and  all  can 
yet  be  arranged.  We  have  confidence  in  him."  So  much  did 
the  isolation  of  Lamartine  in  a  narrow  Chamber  of  Deputies 
discover  his  popularity,  at  that  time,  in  the  wide  and  deep 
judgment  of  the  people. 

But  neither  the  king,  nor  the  Chamber,  nor  the  opposition 
party  of  M.  Thiers,  nor  the  opposition  party  of  M.  Barrot,  nor 
even  the  republican  party  of  the  National,  or  of  the  Reforme, 
had  thought  of  presenting  Lamartine  to  the  people  as  minister,  as 
pacificator,  or  as  tribune.  He  was  neither  the  man  of  the  Tuile- 
ries,  nor  the  man  of  the  opposition  journals,  nor  the  man  of  the 
reform  banquets,  nor  the  man  of  conspiracies  against  royalty. 
He  was  feeble  and  alone,  not  suspecting  that  the  unforeseen 
confidence  of  the  people  called  him  at  that  moment  by  his 
name.  M.  de  Prebois,  escaping  from  the  armed  bands  which 
surrounded  him,  regained  with  difficulty  the  Tuileries,  to  relate 
to  some  courtiers  what  he  had  just  seen  and  heard.  But  there 
was  no  longer  time  to  deliberate  upon  the  choice  of  this  or  that 
man,  alienated  from  the  court.  The  king  was  obliged  to  take 
at  once  whoever  was  at  hand.  Besides,  Lamartine  was  the  last 
man  whom  the  king  would  have  called  to  power,  in  an  hour  of 
anguish.  This  prince  did  not  love  M.  de  Lamartine,  still  less 
did  he  comprehend  him.  Behold  the  motives  of  this  estrange- 
ment. 


64  HISTORY    OF    THE 

self  on  a  balcony  with  my  grandchildren  and  my  princesses, 
and  I  will  see  you  die,  true  to  yourself,  to  the  throne,  and  to  our 
misfortunes  ! "  The  countenance  of  this  much-loved  wife  and 
this  mother,  for  so  long  a  time  happy,  was  animated  for  the 
first  time  with  the  energy  of  her  two-fold  love  for  her  husband 
and  her  children.  All  her  tenderness  for  them  was  concen- 
trated and  impassioned  in  her  care  for  their  honor.  Their 
lives  came  second  in  her  regard.  Her  white  hair,  contrasting 
with  the  fire  of  her  looks  and  with  the  animation  that  brought 
the  ^olor  to  her  cheeks,  impressed  on  her  face  something  tragic 
and  holy,  between  the  Athalie  and  the  Niobe.  The  king 
calmed  her  by  words  expressing  confidence  in  his  own  experi- 
ence and  wisdom,  which  had  never  yet  deceived  him.  At 
eleven  o'clock  he  believed  himself  so  sure  of  controlling  the 
movement  and  reducing  the  crisis  by  a  modification  of  the 
ministry,  acceptable  to  the  people,  that  he  descended  with  a 
smiling  face,  and  in  undress  costume,  to  the  salle  a  manger  to 
dine  with  his  family. 

X. 

Hardly  had  the  repast  commenced,  when  the  door  was 
opened,  and  they  saw,  entering  precipitately,  two  confidential 
and  disinterested  counsellors  of  the  crown,  designed,  they  say, 
by  M.  Thiers  for  the  ministry.  These  were  MM.  de  Romusat 
and  Duvergier  de  Hauranne.  They  prayed  the  Duke  of  Mont- 
pensier  to  give  them  a  private  audience.  The  prince  rose 
and  ran  towards  the  two  negotiators.  But  the  king  and  queen, 
unable  to  restrain  their  impatience,  rose  at  the  same  time, 
looking  at  M.  de  Remusat  with  inquiring  eyes,  —  "  Sire,"  said 
he,  "  the  king  must  know  the  truth.  To  be  silent,  at  such  a 
moment,  would  make  me  an  accomplice  in  the  affair.  Your 
tranquillity  proves  that  you  are  deceived.  At  three  hundred 
paces  from  your  palace,  the  dragoons  are  exchanging  their 
sabres,  and  the  soldiers  their  muskets,  with  the  people."  —  "  It  is 
impossible  ! "  cried  the  king,  recoiling  with  astonishment.  An 
o^cer  of  ordnance,  M.  de  L'Aubepin,  says  respectfully  to  the 
king,  "  I  have  seen  it." 

At  these  words  the  whole  family  rose  from  the  table.  The 
king  ascended,  put  on  his  uniform,  and  mounted  his  horse.  His 
sons,  the  Duke  of  Nemours  and  the  Duke  of  Montpensier,  and  a 
group  of  faithful  generals,  accompany  him.  He  passes  slowly 
in  review  the  troops  and  the  few  battalions  of  the  National 


iE VOLUTION    OF    18  IS.  65 

Guards  that  were  stat  oned  on  the  place  dii  Carrousel  and  in  the 
court  of  the  Tuilerier .  The  aspect  of  the  king  was  depressed  ; 
that  of  the  troops  cold ;  that  of  the  National  Guards  undecided. 
Some  cries  of  Vive  le  Roi,  mingled  with  cries  of  Vive  la  Re- 
forme,  came  from  the  ranks.  The  queen  and  the  princesses 
came  out  on  a  balcony  of  the  palace,  as  Marie  Antoinette  on 
the  morning  of  the  10th  of  August ;  following  with  their  eyes 
and  hearts  the  king  and  princes,  they  saw  the  military  salutes 
of  the  soldiers,  who  brandished  their  sabres  along  the  front 
of  the  lines ;  they  heard  also  the  dull  echo  of  the  cries,  the 
words  of  which  they  could  not  understand.  They  believed  in 
a  return  of  enthusiasm,  and  reentered  their  apartments,  filled 
with  joy. 

But  the  king  could  not  deceive  himself  as  to  the  coldness  of 
his  reception.  He  had  seen  the  dissatisfied  or  hostile  faces.  He 
had  heard  the  cries  of  Vive  la  Rtfor7ne,  and  of  a  bos  les  ministrcs, 
rising  from  under  the  very  feet  of  his  horse,  as  a  howitzer  of 
the  revolt,  which  was  breaking  out  even  at  the  gates  of  his  palace. 
He  returned,  dejected  and  in  consternation,  fearing  equally  to 
provoke  the  struggle  or  to  await  it ;  in  that  constrained  inaction 
which  holds  men,  and  surrounds  them  with  equal  difficulties  on 
every  side  ;  situations  where  action  alone  can  save,  but  where 
action  itself  is  impossible.  Despair  is  the  presiding  genius  of 
desperate  affairs.  It  was  the  misfortune  of  the  king  not  to 
have  despaired  soon  enough.  He  was  accustomed  to  prosperity. 
This  long  prosperity  of  his  long  life  failed  him  on  the  last  day 
of  his  reign. 


a 


XL 

M.  Thiers,  witness  of  this  accelerated  catastrophe,  waited  on 
the  king,  to  resign  to  him  the  power  which  was  escaping  from 
his  hands  before  he  had  seized  and  exercised  it.  He  felt  the 
volatile  popularity  of  a  single  night  gliding  from  his  name  to 
another  name.  He  proposed  to  the  king  M.  Barrot  alone. 
They  could  not  go  further  towards  the  ppposition  without 
abandoning  the  monarchy.  M.  Barrot  had  already  proved 
before  the  people  of  the  boulevards  the  weakness  of  a  name. 
He  neverthek  ss  devoted  himself  to  the  king,  and  to  the  task  of 
pacification,  rithout  considering  that  he  was  about  to  throw 
away,  in  a  few  hours,  a  popularity  of  eighteen  years.  This 
immediate  devoted  abandonment  of  fortune  marked  a  generosity 
of  character  and  courage,  which  raises  a  man  in  the  conscience 


66  HISTORY    OF    THE 

of  the  future.  A  subject  of  raillery  for  the  light  men  of  the 
present  day,  a  title  of  esttem  for  impartial  posterity,  M.  Barrot, 
infoniied  some  moments  after  of  his  nomination  by  the  king, 
did  not  hesitate  to  take  possession  of  the  ministry  of  the  inte- 
rior, and  to  seize  the  shattered  helm. 

At  this  moment,  the  king  at  the  Tuileries  was  his  own  only 
counsellor.  Three  ministers  had  sunk  beneath  his  hand  in 
a  few  hours ;  M.  Guizot,  M.  Mole,  M.  Thiers.  The  queen, 
the  princes,  the  deputies,  the  generals,  the  simple  officers  of  the 
army  and  the  National  Guard,  all  pressed  round  him.  They 
beset  him  with  reports  and  intelligence,  interrupted  by  other 
reports  and  conflicting  intelligence.  Paleness  was  on  the 
cheeks,  tears  in  the  eyes  of  the  women.  The  children  of  the 
royal  family  softened  all  hearts  by  the  unconsciousness  and 
security  expressed  in  their  faces.  All  betrayed,  by  their 
gestures,  attitude,  emotion  and  speech,  that  fluctuation  of  ideas 
and  resolution  which  gives  time  for  misfortune  and  discour- 
ages fidelity.  The  doors  and  windows  of  the  apartment  on  the 
ground  floor,  opening  on  the  court,  allowed  the  soldiers  and  the 
National  Guards  to  assist  with  eye  and  ear  at  this  distress. 
Their  moral  courage  might  have  been  shaken  by  it. 

A  veil  should  be  thrown  over  the  disordered  thoughts  of  the 
king,  and  the  confusion  of  his  family,  lest  a  contagious  discour- 
agement should  weaken  the  force  of  the  bayonets.  A  citizen 
of  the  National  Guard,  who  was  on  duty  under  the  arch  of  the 
cabinet  of  the  king,  was  melted  to  tears  by  this  spectacle.  A 
member  of  the  opposition,  almost  a  republican,  but  a  man  of 
feeling  and  eminently  loyal,  he  sought  progress,  without  desir- 
ing ruin.  Above  all,  he  did  not  wish  that  the  cause  of  liberty 
should  owe  its  triumph  to  a  cowardly  abandonment  of  an  old 
man,  of  women  and  children,  by  those  who  were  charged 
to  protect  them.  He  approached  a  lieutenant-general  who 
commanded  the  troops.  "  General,"  said  he  to  him,  in  a  low 
voice,  and  with  an  emotion  that  rendered  his  accent  imperious, 
"  lead  your  troops  beyond  the  reach  of  these  scenes  of  grief. 
Soldiers  must  not  witness  the  agony  of  kings  ! "  The  general 
understood  the  meaning  of  these  words ;  he  ordered  his  battal- 
ions to  draw  back. 


XII. 

The  kmg,  having  ascended  to  his  cabinet,  was  yet  listening 
in  turn  to  the  opinions  of  M.  Thiers,  of  M.  d ;  Lamoriciere,  of 


» 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S43.  67 

M.  de  Remi  sat  and  of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier,  his  younger 
son,  when  a  prolonged  discharge  of  musketry  resounded  from 
the  extremity  of  the  Carrousel,  on  the  side  of  the  ^^Zace  dii 
Palais  Royal.  At  this  report,  the  door  of  the  cabinet  opened, 
and  M.  de  Girardin  hastened  to  the  king. 

M.  de  Girardin,  lately  a  deputy,  now  a  publicist, —  not  so  much 
a  man  of  the  opposition  as  a  man  of  ideas  ;  not  so  much  a 
man  of  revolution  as  a  man  of  the  crisis,  —  was  hurried  into  the 
affair,  where  he  found  danger,  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  and 
greatness.  He  was  of  that  small  number  of  characters,  who 
always  seek  an  opportunity  to  enter  on  the  stage,  as  it  were, 
accidentally,  since  they  are  impatient  from  their  activity,  their 
energy,  and  their  talent,  and  believe  themselves  equal  to  all 
emergencies.  M.  de  Girardin  had  no  fanaticism  for  royalty, 
nor  antipathy  to  a  republic.  In  politics  he  loved  only  action. 
Ambitious  of  intellectual  superiority  rather  than  office,  of  his 
character  rather  than  power,  he  had  come  from  no  other  call 
but  his  own  impulse.  The  journal  La  Presse,  which  he  edited, 
gave  him  a  celebrity  in  Europe,  and  a  publicity  in  Paris,  which 
brought  him  constantly  in  connection  with  public  opinion.  He 
was  one  of  those  men  who  think  aloud  in  the  midst  of  the 
people,  and  whose  every  thought  is  the  event  or  the  contro- 
versy of  the  day.  Antiquity  had  only  the  orators  of  the  forum  ; 
journalism  has  created  the  orators  of  the  fireside. 

M.  de  Girardin,  in  few  and  emphatic  words,  which  seemed 
to  shorten  minutes  and  silence  objections,  said  to  the  king, 
with  mournful  respect,  that  groping  among  ministerial  names 
was  no  longer  in  season ;  that  the  hour  carried  with  it  the 
throne  and  the  councils  ;  and  that  there  was  but  one  word 
which  answered  to  the  urgency  of  the  insurrection,  —  Abdica- 
tion ! 

The  king  was  in  one  of  those  moments  when  truths 
strike  witJiout  offending.  He  dropped,  however,  from  his 
hands  the  pen  with  which  he  was  combining  the  names 
of  the  ministers  on  the  paper.  He  wished  to  discuss  ;  M. 
de  Girardin,  pressing  as  the  occasion,  pitiless  as  proof,  did 
not  even  admit  discussion.  "  Sire,  the  abdication  of  the  king, 
or  the  abdication  of  the  monarchy, —  behold  the  dilemma! 
Time  does  not  allow  even  a  moment  to  seek  a  third  issue  to 
the  affair." 

Thus  speaking,  M.  de  Girardin  presented  to  the  king  a 
draught  of  a  p  oclamation,  which  he  had  just  written  and 
sent  in  advance  to  the  press.     This  proclamation,  concise  as 


68  HISTORY    OF   THE 

fact,  merciless  as  proof,  contained  only  these  four  lines,  which 
must  strike  insta  itly  and  everywhere  the  eye  of  the  people. 

Abdication  of  the  King. 

Regency  of  Madame  the  Duchess  of  Orleans. 

Dissolution  of  the  Chambers. 

General  Amnesty. 
The  king  hesitated.  The  Duke  of  Montpensier,  his  son, 
led  on,  without  doubt,  by  the  energetic  expression  of  the 
countenance,  gestures,  and  words  of  M.  de  Girardin,  pressed 
his  father  with  more  urgency  perhaps  than  royalty,  age  and 
misfortune,  permit  to  the  respect  of  a  son.  The  pen  was 
presented,  the  kingdom  torn  away  by  an  impatience  which  did 
not  wait  the  full  and  free  conviction  of  the  king.  The  rude- 
ness of  fortune  towards  the  king  ought  not  to  make  itself  felt 
in  the  precipitation  of  counsel.  On  the  other  hand,  blood 
was  flowing,  the  throne  tottered.  The  very  lives  of  the  king 
and  his  family  were  at  stake.  All  can  be  explained  by  the 
solicitude  and  tenderness  of  the  counsellors.  History  ought 
always  to  receive  the  version  which  least  humbles  and  crushes 
the  human  heart. 


XIII. 

At  the  sound  of  the  musket-shots,  Marshal  Bugeaud  mounts 
his  horse,  to  interpose  himself  between  the  combatants.  A 
thousand  voices  cry  to  him  not  to  mount.  They  fear  lest  his 
presence  and  his  name  should  be  a  new  signal  for  carnage. 
He  insists,  he  advances,  he  braves  the  presence  and  arms  of 
the  multitude.  He  returns  without  having  obtained  anything 
but  admiration  for  his  bravery.  He  dismounts  his  horse  in 
the  court  of  the  Tuileries.  His  command  no  longer  belonged 
to  him.  The  Duke  of  Nemours  had  been  invested  with  it. 
The  young  General  Lamoricicre,  who  had  upon  his  name  only 
the  prestige  of  his  valor  in  Africa,  galloped  across  the  Carrou- 
sel. He  overleaped  the  advanced  posts  in  the  midst  of  a  cloud 
of  bullets.  He  heroically  attacked  the  first  groups  of  the  com- 
batants. While  he  harangues  them,  he  is  riddled  with  shots, 
his  horse  is  overthrown  ;  his  sword  broken  by  the  fall.  The 
general,  wounded  in  the  hand,  having  his  wound  dressed  in  a 
neighboring  house,  remounts  his  horse,  and  traverses  silently 
the  square  to  announ  '.e  to  the  king  that  the  troops  are  fatigued 
and  the  people  are  inaccessible  to  advice. 

Upon  the  retiring  steps  of  Lamoriciere  the  people  in   fact 


R  .VOLUTION    OF    1S43. 


69 


poured  out  of  the  rue  de  Hohan,  upon  the  Carrousel.  They 
parleyed  with  the  soldiers.  The  soldiers  flowed  back  in  disor- 
der, and  hurried  into  the  court  of  the  Tuileries. 

The  king-  w^rites,  in  the  midst  of  the  noise  of  the  i^urrection 
which  ascends  to  him,  these  words  :  "  I  abdicate  in  favor  of  my 
grandson,  the  Count  of  Paris ;  I  desire  that  he  may  be  more 
fortunate  than  I." 


XIV. 

This  prince  did  not  explain  himself  respecting  the  regency. 
Was  it  through  respect  for  the  law  which  he  had  caused  to  be 
passed  in  favor  of  the  regency  of  his  son,  the  Duke  of  Ne- 
mours ?  Was  it  to  leave  between  the  people  and  the  minis- 
ters a  last  point  of  concession  to  dispute  and  contend  for,  in 
order  to  gain  time  ?  Was  it  to  retain  for  his  house,  after  him, 
a  jealous  power,  which  he  did  not  wish  to  pass,  according  to 
nature  and  true  policy,  to  tlie  mother  of  his  grandson,  the  Count 
of  Paris  ?  We  know  not.  M.  Thiers  had  served  the  purpose 
of  the  king,  in  pronouncing  w'ith  a  part  of  the  opposition 
against  the  regency  of  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  M.  de  La- 
martine  had  supported  with  energy  the  right  of  mothers. 
'  There  is  no  good  policy  which  is  opposed  to  nature,"  cried  he. 
He  had  been  overcome  by  a  feeble  majority,  through  the  com- 
bined influence  of  the  court,  and  of  the  opposition  attached  to 
the  court.  Time  sadly  proved  that  he  was  right.  The  Duke 
of  Nemours,  appointed  regent,  although  young,  brave,  highly 
educated,  and  laborious,  was  not  loved  by  the  people.  Nature, 
while  endowing  him  with  intelligence,  precocious  wisdom, 
and  the  courage  of  his  race,  had  denied  him  that  openness  of 
character  which  fascinates  the  heart.  His  reserve  was  not 
favorable  to  the  appreciation  of  his  good  qualities.  They 
could  not  be  closely  examined.  This  is  only  a  fault  in  a  pri- 
vate man  ;  it  is  a  misfortune  for  a  prince.  Every  one  who 
iX)mes  before  the  people  should  have  prestige.  The  Duke  of 
Nemours  had  only  esteem.  They  saw  in  him  a  continuation 
of  the  virtues  and  faults  of  his  father.  In  changing  the  king, 
they  would  not  change  the  rule.  The  people  wished  to  change 
it. 

This   fault  of  -he  king   and  of  I\I.  Thiers,  in   tearing   the 

regency  from  th.    young  mother  of  the  infant  king,  weighed 

fatally  on  this  last  hour  of  the  reign.     Louis  Philippe  and  his 

minister  perished  from  the  want  of  foresight  manifested  by  this 

7 


70  HISTORY    OF    THE 

act.  If,  insUvad  of  proposing  to  the  people  this  ambiguous 
abdication,  which  was  not  explained  as  regards  the  regency, 
and  which  allowed  the  combatants  to  see  the  Duke  of  Nemours 
behind  the  abdication,  M.  de  Girardin,  who  announced  this 
act,  had  offered  to  the  imagination  and  heart  of  the  nation,  a 
young  widow  and  a  young  mother,  reigning,  through  her  grace 
and  popularity,  under  the  name  of  her  son ;  if  this  beloved 
princess,  unassailed  amid  all  these  recriminations,  had  herself 
appeared  in  the  court  of  the  palace,  and  presented  her  child 
for  the  adoption  of  his  country,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  na- 
ture would  have  triumphed  over  the  people,  for  nature  would 
have  found  an  accomplice  in  the  heart  and  glance  of  every 
combatant.  Thus  sleep  for  a  long  time  the  faults  of  kings  and 
statesmen,  to  rise  and  overwhelm  them  unexpectedly  at  the 
hour  when  they  believe  them  forgotten. 

XV. 

But  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  even  at  this  last  hour,  was 
confined  with  her  children  in  the  apartments  of  the  chateau 
she  inhabited.  The  king  feared  the  influence  of  this  woman, 
young,  beautiful,  serious,  enveloped  in  her  mourning,  irre- 
proachable in  her  conduct,  voluntarily  exiled  from  the  world, 
lest  the  unconscious  radiance  of  her  royalty,  of  her  grace,  and 
her  spirit,  should  draw  the  thoughts  of  the  country  upon  her, 
and  mark  her  for  the  jealousy  of  the  court.  This  princess 
ived  enclosed  with  her  maternity  and  her  grief.  She  could 
.lot  fail,  however,  to  perceive  the  last  faults  of  the  reign, 
and  to  become  alarmed  for  the  future  destiny  of  her  children. 
She  must  have  also  felt  grievously  the  harshness  of  this  law 
of  regency,  demanded  and  voted  against  her,  which  took  from 
her,  together  with  the  political  guardianship  of  her  son,  the 
opportunity  of  showing  to  the  world  those  great  qualities  with 
which  she  was  endowed.  But  this  bitterness  lay  concealed  in 
her  heart,  without  transpiring.  Her  lips  had  never  let  fall  a 
single  complaint.  She  reposed  her  pride  in  her  resignation, 
her  merit  in  her  silence.  M.  de  Lamartine,  the  unknown 
defender  of  hi  natural  rights  in  the  discussion  of  the  law  of 
regency,  had  iever  had  any  correspondence  with  this  princess. 
He  had  never  even  received  from  her  a  sign  of  assent  or  grati- 
tude for  the  disinterested  and  wholly  political  homage  which 
he  had  rendered  her  from  the  tribune.  They  assure  us  that 
for  some  time  M.  Thiers,   discontented  with  the  court,  and 


EEVOLUT  ON    OF    1848,  71 

perhaps  repenting  the  part  he  had  taken  for  the  regency  of  the 
Duke  of  Nemours,  turned  his  thoughts  upon  this  princess.  It 
is  possible  that  the  increasing  disaffection  towards  the  princes 
had  caused  this  statesman  to  reflect,  and  that  he  hoped,  in  fact, 
to  revive  the  monarchical  sentiment  through  the  popularity  of 
a  woman  and  a  child.  We  cannot  say.  This  thought  was 
sufBciently  indicated  by  nature,  for  a  just  mind  to  return  to  it, 
after  having  wandered  from  it. 

As  to  M.  de  Girardin,  he  had  sustained,  with  great  force  of 
talent  and  perseverance,  in  his  journal,  the  system  which  M.  de 
Lamartine  sustained  by  speaking  from  the  tribune.  After 
he  had  seen  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  he  carried  away  from 
those  brief  and  rare  interviews  a  conviction  more  fully  con- 
firmed by  his  admiration  for  that  princess.  Yet  never  had  a 
single  word  of  hers  revealed  a  suffering  ambition  or  a  bitterness 
concealed.  Her  griefs  were  free  not  only  from  all  conspiracy, 
but  even  from  all  ambition.  She  had  shown  the  serenity  and 
disinterestedness  of  a  mother  who  forgets  herself  entirely  among 
the  reminiscences  of  her  husband  and  the  hopes  for  her  son. 
Yet  one  may  believe  that  in  forcing  with  so  much  precipitation 
from  the  king  that  vague  abdication  which  did  not  transfer  the 
reign  to  any  one,  M.  de  Girardin,  and  perhaps  M.  Thiers  with 
him,  made  an  involuntary  movement  towards  the  regency  of  the 
young  widow,  and  waited  to  see  it  proclaimed  by  the  voice  of 
the  people. 

XVI. 

This  idea,  if  it  existed,  miscarried  before  its  birth.  A  mis- 
take destroyed  it.  The  precipitation,  natural  at  such  moments, 
caused  them  to  forget  to  affix  any  signature  to  that  procla- 
mation which  M.  de  Girardin  threw  among  the  crowd  upon  the 
Carrousel  and  upon  the  place  du  Palais-Royal.  In  vain  he 
braved  fire  and  sword  to  obtain  this  truce.  The  crowd,  after 
having  read  the  manuscripts  of  abdication,  seeing  no  sanction  to 
their  promises,  took  them  for  a  ruse,  and  constantly  advanced. 
The  son  of  the  Admiral  Baudin,  going  with  M.  de  Girardin  to 
publish  these  proclamations  on  the  place  de  la  Concorde,  was 
repulsed  with  the  same  i^credulity  and  the  same  perils.  The 
king  was  consumed  with  impatience ;  he  received  a  last  ray  of 
.jope  from  the  arrival  of  an  old  servant,  who  had  become  the 
friend  of  the  king,  and  remained  the  friend  of  the  people  of 
Paris.  It  \»as  Marshal  Gerard,  an  old  and  simple  man,  who 
had  passed  from  the  battle-fields  of  the  empire  into  this  court 


72 


HISTORY    OF    THE 


without  having  lost  the  memory  of  liberty  For  a  long  time 
heartily  devoted  to  the  king,  he  had  lost  neither  the  indepen- 
dence nor  the  color  of  his  opinions.  Brave  as  a  soldier,  popular 
as  a  tribune.  Marshal  Gerard  was  truly  the  man  for  the  last 
hour.  "  Go  before  these  masses,"  said  the  king  to  him,  "  and 
announce  to  them  my  abdication." 

The  marshal,  clothed  in  a  dull-colored  morning  dress  of  the 
bourgeoise  fashion,  vith  a  round  hat  upon  his  head,  mounts  the 
horse  which  Marshal  Bugeaud  had  just  left  in  the  court-yard. 
General  Duchant,  a  brilliant  officer  of  the  empire,  celebrated  for 
his  martial  beauty  and  his  bravery,  accompanies  the  Marshal 
Gerard.  They  sally  from  the  gate.  They  are  received  by 
cries  of  "  Vivent  hs  braves.'''  The  old  marshal  recognized  in 
the  crowd  Colonel  Dumoulin,an  ancient  officer  of  the  emperor; 
an  adventurous  man,  led  on  by  the  giddiness  of  enthusiasm 
and  intoxicated  by  excitement ;  he  calls  him  by  name.  "  Come," 
said  he,  "  my  dear  Dumoulin,  behold  the  abdication  of  the 
king,  and  the  regency  of  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  which  I  bring 
to  the  people.     Aid  me  to  make  them  accept  it." 

Saying  these  words,  the  marshal  offers  a  paper  to  Colonel 
Dumoulin.  But  the  republican  Lagrange,  more  active  than 
Dumoulin,  seizes  the  proclamation  from  the  hand  of  the  gen- 
eral, and  disappeared  without  communicating  it  to  the  people. 
The  republic  would  perhaps  have  been  arrested  before  the  name 
of  a  woman. 

XVII. 

Yet  the  king,  who  had  promised  M.  de  Girardin,  his  sons, 
and  the  ministers,  who  surrounded  him  in  their  terror,  to  abdi- 
cate, had  not  yet  finished  the  formal  writing  of  his  abdication. 
He  seemed  to  await  other  counsel,  more  conformable  to  his 
habitually  temporizing  policy,  and  still  to  contend  with  fate. 
One  circumstance  nearly  justified  his  delays,  and  reestablished 
him  and  his  dynasty  on  the  throne.  Marshal  Bugeaud,  again 
galloping  across  the  court  of  the  Tuileries,  like  the  harbinger 
of  grateful  news,  threw  himself  from  his  horse  and  entered, 
almost  with  violence,  the  disordered  cabinet,  filled  with  the  late 
ministers  and  the  present  counsellors  of  the  monarch.  He 
penetrated  the  crowd,  and  came  into  the  presence  of  the  king. 

Let  us  go  back  one  night,  and  see  what  had  thus  far  been 
the  course  of  action  of  Marshal  Bugeaud. 

The  marshal,  as  we  have  seen  above,  had  had  for  some  mo- 
ments the  general  command  of  the  National  Guards  and  the 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  73 

troops.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  they  brought  him  his 
nomination  to  this  post.  Pie  immediately  mounted  his  horse, 
and  ordered  his  staff  to  head-quarters  to  form  his  plan  and  give 
the  order  of  battle.  The  staff  were  absent ;  generals,  officers 
and  soldiers,  all  reposed,  after  the  fatigues  of  the  two  preceding 
days,  sleeping  in  their  cloaks  upon  the  square,  or  in  the  small 
apartments  and  on  the  flat  roofs  of  the  immense  Louvre.  The 
marshal  lost  much  time  before  he  could  collect  a  few  generals 
and  ofiicers  of  the  staff,  and  obtain  information  of  the  number 
and  position  of  the  troops  under  his  command.  The  number 
of  these  troops,  which  they  believed  at  least  fifty  thousand  men, 
did  not  exceed  thirty-five  thousand  active  troops.  Deducting 
the  number  of  soldiers  destined  to  guard  the  forts  and  barracks, 
together  with  those  out  of  the  service  for  various  causes,  they  did 
not  find  but  about  twenty-five  thousand  combatants  of  all  arms. 
Troops  enough  to  be  opposed  to  the  scattered  and  confused 
masses,  which  had  no  discipline  to  unite  them,  which  were 
stationed  as  they  were  formed ;  but  troops  already  worn  out 
from  being  stationed  for  forty-eight  hours  in  the  mud,  benumbed 
with  cold,  exhausted  by  hunger,  laboring  under  doubt,  uncer- 
tain which  side  was  right,  ashamed  to  desert  the  king,  in 
consternation  at  wagmg  war  on  the  people,  waiting  to  regu- 
late their  conduct  by  the  movements  of  the  National  Guards, 
who  were  themselves  wavering  between  the  two  armies. 

The  marshal,  with  his  military  instinct  ripened  by  reflection 
and  enlightened  by  experience  in  the  management  of  troops, 
knew  that  inactivity  was  the  destruction  of  the  moral  strength 
of  armies.  He  changed  at  once  the  plan,  or,  as  it  were,  the 
chance-movements,  thus  far  pursued.  He  called  to  him  the 
two  generals  who  commanded  these  corps.  The  one  was 
Tiburce  Sebastiani,  brother  of  the  marshal  of  that  name,  a 
calm  and  devoted  officer.  The  other  was  General  Bedeau, 
distinguished  in  Africa,  and  who  bears  a  name  highly  respected 
by  his  companions  in  arms  at  Paris.  He  ordered  them  to  form 
two  columns  of  three  thousand  five  hundred  men  each,  and  to 
advance  into  the  heart  of  Paris,  the  one  by  the  streets  which 
run  along  the  boulevards  and  terminate  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville ; 
the  other  by  the  streets  approaching  nearer  to  the  quays. 
Each  of  these  columns  had  artillery.  The  generals  must 
carry,  as  they  advanced,  all  the  barricades  they  met  in  the'r 
path,  raze  the  fortresses  of  insurrection,  sweep  the  masses,  avA 
concentrate  themselves  on  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  the  decisive  po."  • 
tion  of  the  day.  General  Lamoriciere  must  command  t) 
7* 


74  "  HISTORY    OF    THE 

reserve  of  aboat  nine  thousand  men  in  the  precincts  of  the 
palace. 

The  king  and  M.  Thiers  had  already  called  and  nominated 
Lamoriciere,  as  a  young  man,  recently  become  celebrated, 
and  impatient  to  signalize  himself,  before  the  arrival  of  the 
marshal  at  the  staff.  This  young  general  and  Marshal  Bu- 
geaud  had  had  grave  dissensions  in  Africa.  The  cooperation 
of  the  chief  and  the  lieutenant  might  have  been  endangered  by 
collisions,  had  they  not  both  of  them  subjected  their  resentment 
to  their  devotion  for  the  king.  They  acted  with  a  military 
frankness  worthy  of  them.  The  marshal,  seeing  Lamoriciere 
appear  in  the  group  of  general  officers  under  his  command, 
advanced  towards  him  and  extended  his  hand.  "  I  hope,"  said 
he,  "  my  dear  lieutenant,  that  we  have  left  our  differences  in 
Africa,  and  that  we  have  here  only  our  mutual  esteem  and  our 
devotion  to  our  duties  as  soldiers."  Lamoriciere,  worthy  of 
comprehending  words  like  these,  was  moved  even  to  tears. 
The  tears  of  the  soldier  are  but  those  of  courage.  Touched 
to  the  heart,  Lamoriciere  united  his  counsels  with  those  of  the 
marshal. 

xvin. 

At  the  dawn  of  day  the  two  columns  set  out.  Every  mo- 
ment officers  of  the  staff,  disguised  as  citizens  or  mechanics, 
brought  the  news  of  their  progress  to  the  general-in-chief. 
These  columns  did  not  meet  wath  resistance  up  to  the  precincts 
of  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  They  penetrated  the  crowd,  which  opened 
before  them,  with  cries  of  "  Vive  Varmte  I  vive  la  reforme  1 " 
They  overcame,  without  opposition,  the  commencement  of  the 
barricades,  destroyed  beneath  their  feet.  New  masses  of  the 
people,  armed,  but  inoffensive,  present  themselves  before  them 
at  all  the  great  outlets  of  the  streets.  The  two  generals,  hav- 
ing no  pretext  to  fight  them,  did  not  dare  to  disperse  them  with 
the  bayonet  or  cannon.  The  troops  and  the  people  thus  stood 
in  each  other's  presence,  conversations  were  held,  and  false  news 
circulated.  The  desire  for  peace  which  exists  in  the  hearts  of 
citizens  of  one  country  and  of  'he  same  opinions,  the  horror  of 
blood  uselessly  shed  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  while  at  the  Tuile- 
ries  they  were,  perhaps,  already  reconciled  by  political  combina- 
tions, or  by  an  abdication,  weakened  the  orders  in  the  hearts 
of  the  generals,  and  the  arms  in  the  hands  of  the  soldiers. 

The  marshal,  constrained  by  the  reiterated  commands  of 
the  king,  ordered  his  lieutenants  to  return.     General  Bedeau 


H  EVOLUTION    OF    184S.  7o 

made  his  battalions  fall  back.  Some  soldiers,  they  say,  threw 
away  their  guns,  as  a  sign  of  fraternal  disamning,  before  the 
people.  Their  return  through  Paris  had  thus  the  air  of  a 
defection,  or  of  a  vanguard  of  the  revolution  itself  marching 
on  the  Tuileries.  These  troops,  already  vanquished  by  this 
movement,  came  back,  however,  untouched,  but  powerless,  to 
regain  their  positions  on  the  place  de  la  Concorde,  in  the 
Champs  Elysees,  and  in  the  rue  de  Eivoli.  The  French 
army,  when  humbled,  is  no  longer  an  army.  It  felt  in  its  heart 
the  bitterness  of  this  retreat,  —  it  retains  it  still. 

XIX. 

The  marshal,  reduced  to  inactivit}^,  in  obedience  to  the  king 
and  ministers,  hoped  to  repress  by  his  presence  and  his  words 
the  masses  who  were  trjnng  to  enter  the  Carrousel.  Twice,  as 
we  have  seen,  he  rode  on  horseback  before  them,  and  tv\"ice, 
received  with  cries  of  "  Vive  le  vainqueur  d'lsly"  he  endeavored 
to  persuade  them  to  await  the  result  of  the  deliberation  of  the 
ministers.  Once,  insulted  with  the  name  of  butcher  of  the 
people,  in  the  rue  Transnonain,  he  went  to  the  person  who 
was  shouting  it,  took  up  the  injury,  and  proved  that  he  was 
a  stranger  to  the  cruelties  committed  in  these  evil  days,  and 
he  regained  the  respect  and  popularity  of  the  masses. 

Lamoriciere,  in  his  turn,  rushed,  alone,  upon  his  horse  into 
the  troubled  waves  of  these  multitudes,  harangued  them,  and 
came  back  vanquished,  but  honored  in  his  exertions  for  peace. 

During  these  scenes  upon  the  Carrousel,  the  insurgents,  find- 
ing the  boulevard  and  the  rue  de  la  Madeleine  free,  collected 
in  masses  as  far  as  the  entrance  of  the  place  de  la  Concorde, 
burned  the  guard-houses  that  bordered  the  Champs  Elystes, 
fired  on  the  posts,  and  massacred  the  Municipal  Guards,  odious 
to  the  people,  since  they  were  the  visible  instruments  of  repress- 
ing all  the  disorders  and  commotions  of  Paris.  These  unfor- 
tunate soldiers  died  under  the  swords  of  their  murderers  at  the 
posts  and  in  the  hotel  of  the  Minister  of  Marine.  Their  cries 
of  distress  called  for  defenders  and  avengers  from  the  battalions 
and  squadrons  stationed  n  the  neighborhood.  The  officers  and 
soldiers  called  for  the  order  of  march  upon  the  murderers. 
The  chiefs,  bound  by  their  instructions,  hesitated  to  repulse 
these  assailants,  and  confined  themselves  to  saving  the  lives  of 
the  ]Municipal  Guards,  under  the  shelter  of  their  swords.  So 
much  did  the  ministers  fear  to  give,  by  resistance,  a  pretext  for 


76  HISTORY   OF    THE 

the  general  conflagration  of  Paris.  But  this  blood  shed  with 
impuni;;y  did  not  extinguish  it.  It  only  added  fuel  to  the  fire, 
and  threw  into  consternation  at  the  same  time  victory  and 
defeat. 

It  was  eleven  o'clock ;  at  this  moment  they  came  to  announce 
to  the  marshal  that  the  king  had  revoked  his  command,  and 
that  Marshal  Gerard  commanded  in  his  stead.  He  yielded 
impatiently  to  these  orders.  He  ran  to  the  king,  to  represent 
to  him  the  danger  of  abdicating  after  a  defeat.  On  entering 
the  Tuileries,  they  announced  to  him  the  abdication.  He 
rushed,  as  we  have  seen,  into  the  cabinet.  He  was  at  the  side 
of  the  king. 

XX. 

This  prince,  seated  before  a  table,  held  a  pen  in  his  hand. 
He  wrote  slowly  his  abdication,  with  care  and  symmetry,  in 
large  letters,  which  seemed  to  carry  on  the  paper  the  majesty 
of  the  royal  hand.  The  ministers  of  the  evening,  of  the  night 
and  the  day,  the  courtiers,  the  official  counsellors,  the  princes, 
the  princesses,  the  children  of  the  royal  family,  all  crowded  the 
apartment  in  confusion,  with  agitated  groups,  conversing  and 
whispering.  Their  faces  bore  the  expression  of  terror  which 
hurried  their  resolutions,  and  broke  their  strength  of  character. 
They  were  in  one  of  those  hours  of  extremity  when  hearts  are 
revealed  in  their  nudity ;  when  the  mask  of  rank,  of  title,  and 
dignity,  falls  from  their  faces,  and  allows  their  nature  to  be 
seen,  often  degraded  with  fear.  They  hear  in  the  distance, 
rising  above  the  noise  of  the  chamber,  shots  already  resounding 
at  the  end  of  the  court  of  the  Louvre.  A  ball  whistles  by 
the  experienced  ear  of  the  marshal.  It  buries  itself  in  the 
roof.  The  marshal  does  not  infonn  those  who  surround  him 
of  the  evil  signification  of  the  noise.  The  palace  of  kings 
might  become  a  battle-ground  ;  in  his  eyes  it  was  a  moment  to 
fight,  and  not  to  capitulate. 

"  Ah  !  how,  sire,"  said  he  to  the  king,  "  have  they  dared  to 
counsel  you  to  abdicate  in  the  midst  of  a  combat  ?  Do  they 
not  know,  then,  that  it  is  to  counsel  you  more  than  ruin  — 
shame  ?  Abdication,  in  the  calm  and  freedom  of  deliberation, 
is  sometimes  the  safety  of  an  empire,  and  the  wisdom  of  a 
king.  Abdication,  under  the  fire  of  muskets  —  that  always  re- 
sembles weakness  ;  and  further,"  continued  he,  "  this  weakness, 
which  your  enemies  will  construe  as  cowardice,  wiU  be  useless 
now.     The  combat  is  engaged,  here  is  no  means  of  announc- 


REVOLUTION   OT    1848.  7'' 

ing  this  abdication  to  the  numerous  masses  of  insurgents,  and 
a  word  spoken  to  their  first  lines  would  not  stop  the  impulse. 
Let  us  reestablish  order  first,  and  deliberate  afterwards." 

"  Ah,  well,"  said  the  king,  rising  at  these  words,  and  press- 
ing with  emotion  the  hand  of  the  marshal,  "  you  then  forbid  me 
to  abdicate !"  "  Yes,  sire,"  replied  the  brave  soldier,  with 
respectful  energy  ;  *'  I  dare  to  advise  you  not  to  yield,  at  this 
moment,  at  least,  to  a  project  which  can  save  nothing,  and  may 
ruin  all." 

The  king  appeared  radiant  with  joy  at  seeing  his  opinion 
partaken  and  authorized  by  the  firm  and  warlike  words  of  his 
general.  "  Marshal,"  said  he,  with  tenderness,  and  in  a  voice 
a'-most  suppliant,  "  pardon  me  for  having  broken  your  sword  in 
your  hands  by  withdrawing  from  you  the  command  to  bestow 
it  on  Gerard.  He  was  more  popular  than  you  !"  "  Sire," 
replied  General  Bugeaud,  "  let  him  save  your  majesty,  —  I  will 
never  en\'y  him  your  confidence." 

The  king  no  longer  approached  the  table,  and  seemed  to 
renounce  the  idea  of  abdication.  The  groups  of  counsellors 
were  in  consternation.  They  attached  to  this  idea,  some  of 
them  their  safety,  others  the  safety  of  royalty,  others  again, 
perhaps,  that  of  their  private  ambition.  All,  at  least,  saw  in  it 
one  of  those  solutions  which  make  a  momentary  diversion  of 
the  crisis,  and  which  relieve  the  mind  from  the  weight  of  long 
uncertainty. 

The  Duke  of  Montpensier,  the  king's  son,  who  appeared 
swayed  even  more  than  the  others  by  impatience  for  a  catas- 
trophe, attached  himself  closer  to  his  father,  beset  him  with 
importunities  and  gestures  almost  imperious,  to  induce  him  to 
reseat  himself,  and  to  sign.  That  attitude,  those  words,  remain 
in  the  memory  of  the  witnesses  as  one  of  the  most  painful 
impressions  of  the  scene.  The  queen  alone,  amid  this  tumult 
and  this  confusion  of  timid  counsels,  preserved  the  dignity,  the 
coolness,  and  resolution  of  her  rank,  as  mother,  Avife,  and 
queen.  After  having  opposed,  with  the  marshal,  the  project 
of  a  precipitate  abdication,  she  yielded  to  the  urgency  of  the 
crowd,  and  retired  into  the  embrasure  of  a  window,  whence 
she  regarded  the  king,  with  indignation  on  her  lips  and  heavy 
tears  in  her  2yes. 

The  king  granted  his  abdication  to  his  ministers,  and  joined 
the  queen  in  the  embrasure  of  the  saloon.  He  was  no  longer 
king.     Yet  no  one  had  legal  authority  to  seize  the  rule.     The 


78  HISTORY    OF    THE 

people  no  longer  ma  rched  to  fight  against  the  king,  but  against 
royalty.     In  a  word,  the  abdication  came  too  soon  or  too  late. 

Marshal  Bugeaud,  before  departing,  repeated  the  observation 
respectfully  to  the  king.  "  I  know  it,  marshal,"  said  the  prince, 
"  but  I  do  not  wish  that  blood  should  be  longer  shed  for  my 
cause."  The  king  was  brave  in  person.  This  speech  was  not 
a  pretence  under  which  he  covered  his  flight,  nor  a  mark  of 
cowardice.  This  speech  should  console  the  exile,  and  soften 
the  verdict  of  history.  What  God  approves,  men  should  not 
dare  to  blame. 

XXI. 

The  king  took  off  his  uniform,  and  his  decorations.  He 
laid  his  sword  upon  the  table.  He  put  on  a  simple  black  dress, 
and  offered  his  arm  to  the  queen,  to  leave  the  palace  to  a  new 
reign.  The  stifled  sobs  of  the  spectators  alone  interrupted  the 
silence  of  this  last  moment.  Without  dazzling  prestige  as  a 
king,  this  prince  was  loved  as  a  man.  His  long  experience 
gave  confidence  to  the  mind.  His  attentive  familiarity  strongly 
attached  the  heart.  His  old  age,  abandoned  by  fortune  for  the 
first  time,  moved  compassion.  A  political  superstition  was  ter- 
rified at  the  sight  of  this  last  fugitive  from  the  throne.  They 
thought  they  saw  depart  with  him  the  wisdom  of  the  empire. 
The  queen,  hanging  on  his  arm,  showed  herself  proud  to 
fall  in  her  place  with  the  husband  and  the  king,  who  had 
been,  and  who  remained,  without  throne  or  country  on  the 
earth.  This  aged  pair,  united  in  prosperity  and  exile,  were 
more  touching,  with  their  gray  hair,  than  a  pair  of  youthful 
sovereigns  entering  the  palace  of  their  power  and  their  future. 
Hope  and  happiness  have  splendor.  Old  age  and  misfortune 
are  two  majesties.  The  one  dazzles,  the  other  melts.  The 
republicans,  even,  would  have  wept  over  the  last  steps  of  this 
father  and  mother  driven  from  the  hearth  where  they  expected 
to  leave  their  children.  The  by-standers  kissed  their  hands. 
They  touched  their  garments.  Brave  soldiers,  who  went  an  hour 
afterwards  to  serve  the  republic,  —  such  as  Admiral  Baudin 
and  Lamoriciere,  —  moistened  with  their  tears  the  footsteps  of 
the  king.  The  queen,  when  receiving  these  farewells,  could 
not,  they  say,  refrain  from  reproaching  M.  Thiers,  whose  indi- 
rect opposition  to  the  king  had  deeply  wounded  her  womanly 
heart.  "  Oh  !  Monsieur,  you  do  not  deserve  so  good  a  king. 
His  only  vengeance  is  to  fly  before  his  enemies." 

The  ancient  minister  of  a  dynasty,  which  he  had  in  fact  es- 


KEVOLL'TION    OF    1848.  79 

tablishe.l  and  overturned,  respected  the  grief  of  a  wife  and  a 
mother,  refrained  from  all  reply,  and  bowed  himself  in  silence, 
at  this  adieu.  Did  these  Avords  fill  the  hearers  with  remorse 
for  a  too  personal  opposition  to  the  crown,  or  with  compassion 
for  the  blindness  of  courts  ?     Their  silence  alone  can  tell. 


XXII. 

At  the  moment  of  passing  the  threshold  of  his  cabinet,  the 
king,  turning  towards  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  who  rose  to  follow 
him,  "Helen,"  said  he,  "remain!"  The  princess  threw  herself 
at  his  feet,  to  conjure  him  to  take  her  with  him.  She  forgot 
royalty,  to  think  only  of  the  father  of  her  husband.  She  was 
no  longer  a  princess  —  she  was  a  mother.     It  was  in  vain. 

]M.  Cremieux,  an  eloquent  and  active  deputy  of  the  opposi- 
tion, had  hastened  to  the  chateau,  to  give  counsel  at  the  last 
crisis,  and  interpose  between  civil  war  and  the  crown.  At  these 
words,  he  hurried  to  the  king,  and  seizing  his  arm,  "  Sire," 
said  he,  with  an  inquiring  tone,  that  commanded  a  reply,  "  it  is 
well  understood,  is  it  not,  that  the  regency  belongs  to  the 
Duchess  of  Orleans?" 

"No,"  replied  the  king;  "the  law  gives  the  regency  to  the 
Duke  of  Nemours,  my  son ;  it  does  not  belong  to  me  to  change 
a  law.  It  is  for  the  nation  to  do,  in  this  respect,  whatever  may 
conduce  to  its  pleasure  and  its  safety ;"  and  he  continued  to  ad- 
vance, leaving  behind  him  a  problem. 

The  regency  decreed  to  his  son  had  been  one  of  the  cares 
of  his  reign.  He  felt  humiliated  to  leave  after  him,  for  some 
years,  the  government  to  a  woman  foreigia  to  his  race.  Per- 
haps, also,  his  far-reaching  foresight  made  him  believe  that  the 
difference  of  religion,  which  existed  between  the  duchess  and 
the  nation,  portended  troubles  to  the  state,  and  aversion  to  his 
grandson.  This  prince,  thoughtful  by  nature,  had  experienced 
for  more  than  twenty  years  the  solitude  of  the  exile,  which 
he  occupied  with  reflecting  on  the  future.  Prudence  was  his 
genius ;  it  was  also  his  defect.  We  can  truly  say,  that  the 
excesses  of  prudence  for  his  dynasty  were  the  three  principal 
causes  of  his  fall :  the  fortifications  of  Paris,  which  remotely 
menaced  liberty  :  the  marriage  of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier  in 
Spain,  portending  a  war  of  succession  for  the  interest  of  his 
dynas'.y  :  lastly,  the  regency,  given  to  the  Duke  of  Nemours, 
which  took  from  the  cause  of  monarchy,  at  this  moment,  the 
innocence  of  a  young  woman,  and  the  interest  for  a  child,  those 
infallible  illusions  for  the  people. 


80  HI3T0KY   OF    THE 


XXIIl. 

The  duchess,  kneeling-  before  the  king,  remained  a  long  time 
in  this  attitude.  They  had  sent  to  seek  carriages  in  the  court- 
yard. The  people  had  already  burned  them,  as  they  passed,  on 
the  place  du  Carrousel.  A  discharge  from  the  insurgents  had 
killed  the  coachman  who  went  to  find  them.  It  was  necessary 
to  change  this  mode  of  departure. 

The  king  went  out  by  the  gate  of  a  subterranean  passage 
that  led  from  his  apartments  to  the  garden  of  the  Tuileries. 
He  crossed  on  foot  this  same  garden  which  Louis  XVI.,  Marie 
Antoinette,  and  their  children,  had  traversed  on  the  morning  of 
the  tenth  of  August,  when  flying  for  refuge  to  the  National  As- 
sembly,—  road  to  the  scaffold  or  to  exile,  which  kings  never  re- 
trace. The  queen  consoled  the  king  by  a  few  words  pronounced 
in  a  low  voice.  A  group  of  faithful  sen^ants,  of  officers,  women, 
and  children,  followed  in  silence.  Two  small  carriages,  taken  at 
random  by  an  officer  in  disguise,  from  the  streets  where  they 
were  stationed  for  the  public  service,  were  posted  at  the  outlet 
of  the  Tuileries,  at  the  end  of  the  terrace.  The  strength  of  the 
queen's  nerves,  over-excited  by  the  long  crisis,  failed  as  she 
came  out  into  the  open  air.  She  sobbed,  she  reeled,  she  fell  at 
the  last  step.  It  was  necessary  for  the  king  to  raise  her  in  his 
arms  to  place  her  in  the  carriage ;  he  mounted  after  her.  The 
Duchess  of  Nemours,  the  grace  and  beauty  of  this  court,  all  in 
tears,  mounted  with  her  children  into  the  second  carriage, 
seeking  with  restless  eye  for  her  husband,  who  was  exposed  to 
the  difficulties  and  dangers  to  which  his  duty  called  him.  A 
squadron  of  cuirassiers  guarded  the  two  can'iages.  They  started 
at  a  gallop  upon  the  quai  de  Passy.  At  the  extremity  of  the 
Champs  Elysees,  some  shots  saluted  the  retinue  from  a  dis- 
tance, and  struck  down  two  horses  of  the  escort,  under  the  very 
eyes  of  the  king.     They  fled  towards  St.  Cloud. 

XXIV. 

The  Duke  of  Nemours  remained  near  the  Duchess  of  Orleans, 
more  anxious  for  the  fate  of  this  princess  and  of  his  nephews 
intrusted  to  his  prudence  than  for  the  advancement  of  his  own 
ambition.  This  unpopular  prince  proved  himself  alone  worthy 
of  popularity  by  his  disinterestedness  and  courage.  The  Car- 
rousel and  the  courts  were  henceforth  without  defenders.  The 
chateau  broken  open  might  become  the  sepulchre  of  the  Duchess 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S48. 


SI 


of  Orleans  and  her  children  ;  the  Duke  of  Nemours  had  hence- 
forth the  responsibility  of  all  these  lives  and  of  the  blood  of  the 
people.  The  members  of  the  opposition  collected  under  the 
peristyle  of  the  pavilion  de  I'Horloge.  They  sunmioned  tho 
troops  to  retire,  and  to  deliver  the  palace  to  the  National  Guard. 
The  prince,  convinced  that  the  armed  and  conquering  people. 
of  the  civic  soldiery  could  alone  overawe  the  insurgents,  gave 
the  order.  The  troops  retired  in  silence,  and  fell  back  through 
the  garden.  The  Duke  of  Nemours  remained  the  last,  to  protect 
the  departure  of  the  Duchess  of  Orleans. 

AVhile  the  evacuation  of  the  chateau  by  the  troops  was  thus 
effected,  a  small  number  of  officers  and  counsellors,  some  de- 
voted to  the  dynasty,  others  to  the  person,  and  still  others  to 
the  misfortune  alone  of  a  woman,  deliberated  in  the  presence 
of  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  and  her  children.  There  were  seen 
General  Gourgaud,  friend  of  the  Emperor,  the  voluntary  com- 
panion of  his  exile  at  St.  Helena,  accustomed  to  misfortune  and 
fidelity,  a  son  of  Marshal  Ney,  M.  d'Elchingen,  MM.  de  Mont- 
gu3'on,  Villa umez  and  De  Bois  Milon.  Three  cannon-shots 
shook  the  windows  of  the  apartment.  The  duchess  gave  a  cry. 
It  wa  5  the  artillery  in  retreat,  firing  on  the  people,  debouching 
from  the  quay  upon  the  Carrousel.  The  princess  sent  General 
Gourgaud  to  stop  the  firing.  The  cannoniers  extinguished 
their  matches  in  token  of  peace.  General  Gourgaud  reentered 
the  palace.     M.  Dupin  followed  him. 

M.  Dupin,  less  a  jurist  than  a  legislator,  for  a  long  time 
president  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  an  eminent  orator, 
the  living  tradition  of  the  spirit  of  resistance  and  constitu- 
tional liberty  which  formerly  characterized  Harlay,  Mole,  and 
I'Hopital,  a  democrat  in  manners  and  customs,  a  royalist  in 
habit  and  feeling,  had  been,  since  1S15,  the  domestic  counsel- 
lor and  friend,  at  intervals  rude  and  caressing,  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  who  became  king.  The  austerity  of  his  speech,  the 
bitterness  of  his  sarcasms,  had  concealed  from  the  eyes  of  the 
country  the  condescension  of  his  personal  attachment  to  the 
royal  family.  He  avenged  himself  on  the  ministers  of  the 
crown  by  his  influence  with  ;;he  king.  His  popularity,  com- 
promised by  the  court,  returned  to  him  through  his  forensic 
independence.  Learned,  eloquent,  able,  the  oracle  of  the 
magistracy,  inflexible  in  tone,  yielding  to  revolutions,  feared 
by  the  weak,  respected  by  the  powerful,  equal  to  all  emergen- 
cies, M.  Dupin  was  one  of  the  great  authorities  of  public 
opinion.  Wherever  he  went,  many  others  went  with  him 
8 


aa  HISTORY    0/    THE 

He  presented  hitiself  at  the  decisive  hour  when  the  revolu- 
tion desired  a  standard.  He  naturally  found  it  in  this  woman 
and  this  child.  No  hand  was  more  suited  to  hold  it,  and 
cause  its  adoption. 

The  duchess  saw  him  enter  as  an  augury  of  strength  and 
peace.  "  Ah  !  monsieur,  what  do  you  come  to  tell  me,"  cried 
slie.  —  "I  come  to  tell  you,  madam,"  replied  M.  Dupin,  with 
the  accent  of  a  sad  but  strong  hope,  "  that,  perhaps,  the  part 
of  a  second  Maria  Theresa  is  reserved  for  you."  —  "Guide 
me,  sir,"  said  the  princess  ;  "  my  life  belongs  to  France  and  to 
my  children."  —  "Ah,  well,  madam,  let  us  go;  there  is  not  a 
moment  to  lose.     Come  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies." 

It  was,  in  fact,  the  only  course  the  duchess  could  pursue. 
The  regency,  already  lost  in  the  streets,  might  be  found  again 
in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  if  the  chamber,  discredited  with 
the  nation  by  the  spirit  of  the  court,  had  preserved  sufficient 
ascendency  to  stay  the  monarchy  in  its  fall.  The  presence  of 
a  woman,  the  graces  and  innocence  of  a  child,  were  more  win- 
ning than  all  their  speeches.  Eloquence  in  action  is  compas- 
sion. The  bloody  mantle  of  Csesar,  hung  out  from  the  tribune, 
is  less  moving  than  a  tear  of  a  young  and  beautiful  woman 
presenting  an  infant  orphan  to  the  representatives  of  a  feeling 
people. 

The  Duke  of  Nemours,  after  having  received  the  adieus  of 
his  father,  and  covered  his  departure  with  his  person,  entered 
the  palace  as  the  last  battalion  of  troops  defiled  from  the 
Carrousel  through  the  garden  and  the  quay. 

XXV. 

The  duchess  set  out.  She  held  by  the  hand  the  Count  of 
Paris,  her  eldest  son.  The  Duke  of  Chartres,  her  other  child, 
was  carried  in  the  arms  of  an  aid-de-camp.  The  Duke  of 
Nemours,  ready  at  every  sacrifice,  to  save  his  sister-in-law 
and  the  royalty  of  his  ward,  walked  at  the  side  of  the  princess. 
M.  Dupin  accompanied  her  on  the  other  side.  Some  officers 
of  the  household  followed  in  silence.  A  valet-de-chambre, 
named  Hubert,  attached  to  the  children,  was  the  whole  escort 
of  this  regency.  This  reign  had  only  to  pass  over  the  space 
between  the  roya  gardens  and  the  palace  of  the  representatives, 
before  it  was  engulfed  with  the  throne. 

Hardly  had  the  princess  traversed  two  thirds  of  the  garden, 
when  a  column  of  republicans,  who  had  been  fighting  since 


REVOLUTION   OF    1843.  83 

the  evening,  constantly  increasing  and  concentrating,  entered 
the  palace  in  spite  of  the  troops,  filled  the  halls,  swept  away 
the  vestiges  of  royalty,  proclaimed  the  republic,  raised  the 
flag  which  served  as  a  canopy  for  the  throne,  and  makinn- 
but  a  short  halt  in  the  palace  they  had  carried,  immediately 
formed  to  march  on  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  upon  the  foot- 
steps of  the  regent.  It  was  ths  column  commanded  by  Captain 
Dunoyer,  who  seemed  to  mulitiply  himself  through  the  strug- 
gles of  that  day. 


BOOK  IV. 


I. 


Let  us  retrace,  for  a  few  moments,  the  rapid  and  multita- 
dinous  course  of  events,  and  narrate  what  was,  at  the  same 
time,  passing  at  the  Chamber  of  Deputies, 

Lamartine,  a  stranger  to  every  kind  of  conspiracy  against 
the  monarchy,  fell  asleep  overnight  in  consternation  at  the 
blood  shed  on  the  boulevard,  but  firmly  convinced  that  the 
night  which  had  brought  a  truce  to  the  conflict,  and  the  day 
which  was  going  to  declare  new  concessions  on  the  part  of 
royalty,  would  pacify  the  movement.  Without  party  in  the 
Chamber,  without  accomplice  in  the  street,  retained  by  indis- 
position, he  had  no  thought  of  emerging  from  his  inaction. 
What  signified  his  presence  in  the  assembly,  to  hear  only  the 
names  and  the  ordinary  programme  of  a  new  ministry  ?  The 
events  that  were  passing  were  out  of  his  sphere ;  he  learned 
them,  like  the  public,  with  indiflTerence  or  with  joy,  according 
as  they  appeared  to  serve  or  to  injure  the  disinterested  cause 
which  was  dear  to  his  heart. 

Some  of  his  colleagues  came  to  him,  from  time  to  time,  to 
recount  the  incidents  of  the  two  days.  None  of  them  foresaw 
a  final  catastrophe  to  the  dynasty.  They  limited  their  conjec- 
tures to  the  names  and  the  projects  of  the  ministers  imposed 
on  the  king  by  a  prolonged  sedition. 

At  half-past  ten,  however,  one  of  his  friends  hurried  to 
announce  to  him  that  it  was  feared  there  would  be  an  inva- 
sion of  the  people  at  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  Lamartine 
arose  at  this  news,  little  as  he  credited  such  impotence  on 
the  part  of  the  fifty  thousand  troops  who  were  supposed  to  be 
concentrated  in  Paris,  But  the  danger  that  might  be  antici- 
pated for  his  colleagues  made  the  sharing  of  it  his  duty.  The 
popularity  of  esteem  which  he  enjoyed  within  and  outside  the 
Chamber  might  render  his  presence  useful  and  his  intervention 
a  shield  for  the  life  of  citizens  or  of  deputies.  The  political 
question  seemed  to  him  of  no  account  for  the  moment.     He 


HISTORY    OF   THE    REVOLUTION    OF    .843.  85 

came  forth  from  an  instinct  of  honor,  and  not  a  political  motive. 
He  believed  the  crisis  unfolded.  "  Yesterday  was  a  twentieth 
of  June,"  said  he,  in  going  out ;  "  it  certainly  presages  a  tenth 
of  August.  A  royalty  disarmed,  which  capitulates  under  firing, 
is  no  longer  a  royalty.  The  tenth  of  August  is  upon  our  steps 
but  it  is  still  at  a  distance."  He  repaired  alone  on  foot  to  th« 
Chamber  of  Deputies.  A  lowering  and  dark  sky,  pierced  from 
time  to  time  by  a  flash  of  winter  sunlight,  resembled  the  for- 
tune of  the  day ;  it  was  dubious  and  stormy  :  the  streets  were 
deserted  ;  a  few  outposts  of  infantry,  with  their  feet  in  the  mud, 
and  of  cavalry,  enveloped  in  their  white  mantles,  with  the  bridle 
on  the  bent  neck  of  their  horses,  occupied  in  small  numbers  the 
adjacent  parts  of  the  Chamber.     They  allowed  him  to  pass. 

While  traversing  the  place  du  Palais  de  I'Assemblee,  he 
heard  the  rumbling  of  a  carriage,  and  cries  of  "Vive  Barrot ! 
Vive  la  Reforme  !"  made  him  turn  his  head.  He  stopped.  A 
hired  coach,  rickety  and  covered  with  mud,  drawn  with  diffi- 
culty by  two  overburdened  horses,  passed  before  him;  he 
recognized,  on  the  seat  beside  the  coachman,  M.  Pagnerre, 
president  of  the  committee  of  the  opposition  party  in  Paris ; 
behind  the  carriage,  two  or  three  well-dressed  citizens  waved 
their  hats  or  handkerchiefs,  and  made  signs  to  the  passers  by 
that  all  was  quieted.  A  small  group  of  people,  composed  prin- 
cipally of  young  men  and  boys,  followed  the  wheels,  uttering 
shouts  of  joy.  On  the  back  seat  of  the  carriage,  the  pensive 
and  pale  countenance  of  M.  Odilon  Barrot  bore  witness  to  the 
agitation  of  his  thoughts  and  the  sleeplessness  of  his  night ; 
he  was  repairing  courageously  to  his  post  at  the  Ministry  of 
the  Interior,  uncertain  whether  he  was  followed  by  the  pacifi- 
cation or  the  revolt  of  the  multitude.  He  knew  the  king  had 
fled,  and  the  palace  had  been  forced  >  but  he  pursued  his  duty, 
without  casting  a  look  behind.  Such  an  hour  redeems  many 
a  hesitation.  The  heart  of  this  chief  of  the  opposition  never 
shared  in  the  fluctuations  of  his  mind,  and  the  fluctuations  of 
his  mind  were  never,  it  is  said,  aught  save  the  scruples  of  his 
conscience. 

n. 

Lamartine  looked,  lamented  in  his  heart,  and  passed  on. 

Under  the  vault  of  a  peristyle  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies, 

two  generals  on  horseback,  sword  in  hand,  their  countenances 

excited  by  riding,  their  clothes  bespattered  with  mud,  had  just 

met,  and  were  conversing  aloud  as  they  shook  hands  ;  one  was 

8* 


86  HISIORY   OF   THE 

Perrot,  general  of  cavalry,  the  other  unrec(.gnized  ;  —  "  Well, 
general,"  said  one  of  the  officers  to  his  colleague,  "  what  news 
on  your  side  ?"  —  "  Nothing  serious,"  replied  General  Perrot ; 
"  the  groups  on  the  place  de  la  Concorde  are  very  few  in  num- 
ber, and  waver  at  the  least  concussion  of  my  squadrons ;  be- 
sides, the  best  troops  in  Europe  could  not  force  the  bridge." 

While  the  general  thus  spoke,  he  was  not  yet  aware  of  the 
departure  of  the  king,  the  quiescence  of  the  generals  who  com- 
manded on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  and  the  occupation  of 
the  chateau.     Events  had  outstripped  hours. 

Lamartine,  reassured  on  the  fate  of  the  Chamber  by  these 
words  caught  in  passing,  crossed  thu  court,  and  entered  within 
the  palace. 

Seven  or  eight  persons  awaited  him  under  the  vestibule ; 
they  were  for  the  most  part  journalists  of  the  opposition,  and  a 
few  active  men  signalized,  since  1S30,  by  their  republican  opin- 
ions corresponding  to  those  of  the  journal  Le  National.  M.  de 
Lamartine  had  never  had  relations  with  that  journal ;  the  injus- 
tice of  its  conductors,  in  regard  to  him,  often  resembled  a  deaf 
hostility  ;  the  National  painted  Lamartine  as  an  ambitious 
orator,  flattering  the  opposition  to  procure  popularity  for  him- 
self, but  disposed  to  surrender  this  popularity  to  the  court  for 
the  sake  of  obtaining  power.  Oftener  it  adorned  the  orator 
with  flowers,  in  order  the  better  to  efface  the  politician.  It 
rarely  missed  an  occasion  to  add,  as  a  corrective  to  exaggerated 
praise  of  his  talent,  contempt  of  his  views.  It  affected  to  class 
the  deputy  among  the  poets  whom  Plato  excluded  from  his 
republic.  On  his  part,  Lamartine  mistrusted  the  noisy  opposi- 
tion of  this  journal ;  he  thought  he  saw,  beneath  this  emphatic 
rage  against  the  throne,  certain  artifices,  perhaps  a  certain 
secret  understanding  with  the  parliamentary  party  of  M.  Thiers. 
He  was  doubtless  mistaken ;  but  an  opposition  with  such  alli- 
ances seemed  to  him  as  fatal  to  the  constitutional  monarchy  as 
to  the  republic ;  he  liked  questions  clearly  laid  down.  The 
ambiguity  of  parliamentary  coalitions  was  repugnant  to  him 
in  journalism  as  well  as  in  the  Chamber. 

As  to  the  journalists  of  La  Reforme,  Lamartine  knew  them 
only  by  the  aspersions  and  burlesques  that  this  journal,  more 
frank  in  tone  but  extreme  and  bitter  in  its  opinions,  made  on 
his  discourses.  He  had  only  had  occasion  to  see  five  or  six 
times  his  colleague  at  the  Chamber,  M.  Lsdru  Rollin,  the  in- 
spirer  and  political  man  of  this  journal.  These  relations,  inde- 
pendent of  politics,  had  brought  him  no  nearer  on  any  point  to 


C 


REVOLUTION   OF    1843.  87 

the  spirit  of  La  Reforme.  He  had  refused  to  associate  himself 
with  the  banquets  at  Dijon  and  at  ChaloTzs,  presided  over  by 
JNI.  Ledru  Rollin  and  M.  Flocon.  He  had  forcibly  censured,  in 
the  journal  of  his  department,  the  evil  omens,  the  posthumous 
appeals,  the  sharp  words,  of  these  banquets  ;  he  had  praised,  in 
the  party  of  La  Reforme,  only  its  frankness  of  opposition  and  its 
talent ;  he  had  broken  in  advance  with  its  doctrines. 

m. 

The  group  of  republicans  who  surrounded  Lamartine  at  his 
entrance  within  the  passages  of  the  Chamber  demanded  of  him 
a  secret  and  instant  interview  in  a  retired  hall  of  the  palace. 
M.  de  Lamartine  conducted  them  there.  The  doors  were 
closed  ;  most  of  these  men  were  known  to  him  only  by  sight. 

One  of  them  spoke  in  the  name  of  all. 

"  Time  presses,"  said  he  ;  "  events  are  suspended  in  uncer- 
tainty. We  are  republicans.  Our  convictions,  our  thoughts, 
our  lives,  are  devoted  to  the  republic.  This  is  not  the  time  for 
us  to  disavow  this  common  cause  of  the  people  and  ourselves, 
for  which  our  brethren  have  been  shedding  their  blood  for  three 
days.  It  will  always  be  the  soul  of  our  souls,  the  supreme 
object  of  our  hope,  the  determined  tendency  of  our  acts  and  of 
our  writings  —  in  one  word,  we  will  never  abandon  it.  But 
we  may  adjourn  and  suspend  it  in  view  of  interests,  superior 
in  our  eyes  to  the  republic  itself,  the  interests  of  our  country. 
Is  France  ripe  for  this  form  of  government  ?  Will  she  accept 
it  without  resistance  ?  Or  will  she  incline  to  it  without  vio- 
lence ?  In  a  word,  is  there  not  perhaps  more  danger  in  launch- 
ing it  to-morrow  in  the  plenitude  of  its  institutions,  than  in 
retaining  it  on  the  threshold,  in  showing  it  from  afar,  and  caus- 
ing it  to  be  more  passionately  desired  ?  This  is  the  state  of 
our  minds  —  these  our  scruples  ;  let  us  satisfy  them.  We  do 
not  know  you,  we  do  not  flatter  you,  but  we  esteem  you.  The 
people  invoke  your  name.  They  have  confidence  in  you  •  you 
are,  in  our  eyes,  the  man  for  the  crisis.  What  you  say  shall 
be  decreed.  What  you  will  shall  be  done.  The  reign  of 
Louis  Philippe  is  ended.  No  reconciliation  is  possible  between 
him  and  us.  But  can  a  continuance  of  temporary  royalty  un- 
der the  name  of  a  child,  the  feeble  hand  of  a  woman,  and  the 
direction  of  a  pofular  minister,  the  delegate  of  the  people,  close 
the  crisis  and  introduce  the  nation  to  a  republic,  under  the  vain 
name  of  monarchy  ?     Will  you  be  that  minister  ?  the  guardian 


SS  HISTORY    OF    THE 

of  dying  mcnarchy  and  the  birth  of  liberty,  governing  this 
woman,  this  child,  and  this  people  ?  The  republican  party  is 
fairly  pledged  to  you  by  our  voices.  We  are  ready  to  entei 
into  a  solemn  engagement  to  place  you  in  power,  by  the  hence- 
forth invincible  hand  of  the  revolution  which  is  muttering  at 
these  doors,  to  sustain  you  in  it,  to  render  your  position  perma- 
nent by  our  votes,  our  journals,  our  secret  societies,  and  forces 
disciplined  in  the  bosom  of  the  people.  Your  cause  shall  be 
ours.  The  minister  of  a  regency  for  France  and  for  Europe, 
you  shall  be  the  minister  of  the  true  republic  for  us." 

IV. 

The  excited  and  sincere  orator  was  silent.  His  colleag-ues 
testified  their  assent  to  his  words  by  their  silence  and  their 
gestures. 

Lamartine  asked  a  moment's  reflection,  to  weigh  in  his  mind 
a  resolution  and  responsibility  so  terrible.  He  leaned  his 
elbows  on  the  table,  and  hid  his  forehead  in  his  hands.  He 
mentally  invoked  the  inspiration  of  one  who  alone  never  de- 
ceives himself.  He  reflected,  almost  without  respiration,  for 
five  or  six  minutes.  The  republicans  remained  standing  oppo- 
site to  him,  and  grouped  about  the  table.  Lamartine  finally 
removed  his  hands,  raised  his  head,  and  said  to  them  : 

"  Gentlemen,  our  situations,  our  precedents  are  very  different, 
and  our  parts  here  are  very  singular.  You  are  old  republicans 
at  all  hazard.  I  am  not  a  republican  of  that  school.  And  yet 
at  this  moment  I  am  going  to  be  more  republican  than  you. 
Let  us  understand  each  other.  Like  you,  I  regard  a  republi- 
can government,  that  is,  the  government  of  nations  by  their 
own  reason  and  their  own  will,  the  only  aim  and  the  only  end 
of  exalted  civilization  ;  as  the  only  instrument  of  the  advance- 
ment of  the  great  general  truths  which  a  nation  would  incor- 
porate in  its  laws.  Other  forms  of  government  are  regents  and 
guardians  of  the  eternal  minority  of  nations,  imperfections  in 
the  eye  of  philosophy  and  humiliations  in  that  of  history.  But 
I  have  none  of  the  impatience  of  a  man  who  would  move  faster 
than  ideas ;  no  absolute  fanaticism  for  this  or  that  form  of 
government.  All  I  desire  is  that  these  forms  should  advance 
constantl}-,  neither  before  nor  behind  the  head  of  the  col- 
umn of  the  people,  but  keeping  fully  up  to  the  ideas  and 
instincts  of  an  epoch.  I  am  not,  therefore,  an  absolute  repub- 
lican like  yourselves,  but  I  am  a  politician.     Well,  it  is  as  a 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVlRSITY  of  ILLImOIS 


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'■■<  'i'"'  l> 


LAMABTINE'S  INTERVIEW  WlfH  THE  UEPUBLICANS. 

Vol.  1,    p.  88. 


RESOLUTION   OF    1848.  89 

politician  that  I  now  think  it  my  duty  to  refuse  the  support  you 
are  willing  to  offer  me,  for  the  adjournment  of  the  republic,  if 
it  were  to  be  displayed  in  an  hour.  It  is  as  a  politician  that  I 
declare  to  you  that  I  do  not  conspire,  that  I  do  not  overthrow, 
that  I  do  not  desire  the  destruction  of  a  throne ;  but  that  if  a 
throne  crumbles  of  itself,  I  will  not  try  to  raise  it ;  and  that  I 
will  only  enter  into  a  complete  movement,  that  is  to  say,  the 
republic !" 

There  was  a  moment's  silence.  Astonishment,  a  sort  of 
stupefaction  mingled  with  doubt,  was  depicted  on  all  counte- 
nances.    Lamartine  resumed  : 

"  I  will  tell  you  why.  In  great  crises,  society  requires  great 
strength.  If  the  royal  government  crumbles  to  pieces  to-day, 
we  are  entering  on  one  of  the  greatest  crises  that  a  people 
ever  had  to  pass  through  before  finding  another  definite  form 
of  government.  The  reign  of  eighteen  years  by  one  man,  in 
the  name  of  a  single  class  of  citizens,  has  accumulated  a  flood 
of  ideas,  revolutionary  impatience,  rancors  and  resentments,  in 
the  nation,  which  will  call  for  a  new  reign  of  impossible  per- 
formance. The  indefinite  reform  which  now  triumphs  in  the 
streets  could  not  define  and  limit  itself,  without  again  throw- 
ing into  aggression  all  those  classes  of  the  people  who  would 
be  excluded  from  the  sovereignty.  Republicans,  legitimists, 
socialists,  communists,  and  terrorists,  separated  by  their  views, 
would  unite  in  resentment  to  overthrow  the  feeble  barrier 
which  a  government  adopted  as  a  truce  would  vainly  attempt 
to  oppose  to  them.  The  Chamber  of  Peers  shares  the  hatred 
which  the  people  nurse  against  the  court.  The  Chamber  of 
Deputies  has  lost  all  moral  authority,  through  the  twofold 
action  of  the  corruption  which  disgraces  it,  and  the  press  which 
has  destroyed  its  popularity.  The  electors  are  but.  an  imper- 
ceptible oligarchy  in  the  state.  The  army  is  disconcerted,  and 
fears  committing  parricide  by  turning  its  arms  against  the 
citizens.  The  National  Guard,  an  impartial  body,  has  taken 
up  the  cause  of  the  opposition.  The  old  respect  for  the  king 
has  been  outraged,  in  tiie  hearts  of  men,  through  his  obstmacy 
and  defeat.  By  what  force  will  you  to-morrow  encompass  a 
throne  raised  to  receive  a  child  ?  By  reform  ?  That  is  a 
standard  which  only  conceals  the  republic.  Universal  suffrage? 
It  is  a  riddle,  and  contains  a  mystery.  With  a  word  and  a 
motion,  't  would  engulf  this  relic  of  monarchy,  this  phantom 
of  opposition,  these  shades  of  ministers  who  would  think  to 
control  it.     Its  second  word  might  be  monarchy  or  empire ;  its 


90  HISTORY   OF    THE 

first  v.ould  be  a  republic.  You  will  have  only  prepared  for  it 
a  royj.l  prey  to  devour.  Who  will  sustain  the  regency  ?  Shall 
it  be  the  great  proprietors  ?  Their  hearts  belong  to  Henry  V. 
The  regency  will  be  for  them  only  a  field  of  battle,  where 
they  may  win  legitimacy.  Shall  it  be  the  small  proprietors  ? 
They  are  selfish  and  mercantile ;  a  reign  with  constant  sedi- 
tion will  ruin  their  interests,  and  induce  them  every  moment 
to  demand  a  definite  establishment  in  a  republic.  Finally, 
shall  it  be  the  people  ?  But  they  are  victorious,  they  are  in 
arms,  they  are  triumphant  everywhere,  they  have  been  labor- 
ing fifteen  years  for  doctrines  which  would  seize  the  opportu- 
nity to  carry  the  victory  over  royalty,  to  the  extent  of  over- 
throwing society  itself. 

"  A  regency  will  be  the  Fronde  of  the  people  —  the  Fronde 
with  the  addition  of  the  popular  communist  and  socialist  ele- 
ment. Society,  defended  only  by  the  government  of  a  small 
number,  under  a  form  of  royalty  which  will  be  neither  mon- 
archy nor  republic,  will  be  assailed  without  defence  at  its  very 
foundations.  The  people,  calmed  to-night  by  the  proclamation 
of  the  regency,  will  return  to-morrow  to  the  assault,  to  extort 
another  novelty.  Each  one  of  these  irresistible  manifestations 
will  carry  away,  with  a  half  concession,  a  remaining  fragment 
of  power ;  the  people  will  be  driven  to  it  by  republicans  more 
implacable  than  you.  You  will  only  have  left  the  throne  the 
means  of  exasperating  liberty,  without  sufficient  power  to 
restrain  it.  This  throne  will  be  the  standing  butt  of  the  oppo- 
sition, the  seditions  and  the  aggressions  of  the  multitude. 
You  will  go  from  the  20th  of  June,  to  the  10th  of  August,  as 
far  as  the  sinister  days  of  September.  To-day  they  will 
demand  of  this  feeble  power  the  scaffold  within ;  to-morrow, 
they  will  exact  war  without.  It  cannot  refuse  anything,  or  it 
will  be  violated.  You  will  allure  the  people  to  blood.  Woe  and 
shame  to  the  revolution,  if  it  taste  it !  You  will  fall  back  into 
the  year  '93  of  misery,  fanaticism  and  socialism.  Civil  war, 
rendered  ferocious  by  hunger  and  poverty,  this  night-mare  of 
Utopians,  will  become  the  instant  reality  of  the  country.  For 
having  wished  to  stay  a  woman  and  a  child  on  the  brink  of  a 
peaceable  dethronement,  you  will  plunge  France,  property  and 
family,  into  an  abyss  of  anarchy  and  blood." 


Their   co  mtenances   betrayed    emotion.      Lamartine   con- 
tinued : 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  91 

"  For  my  part,  I  see  too  clearly  the  series  of  consecutive 
catastrophes  I  should  be  preparing  for  my  country,  to  attempt 
to  arrest  the  avah.nche  of  such  a  revolution,  on  a  descent 
where  no  dynastic  force  could  retain  it  without  increasing  its 
mass,  its  weight,  and  the  ruin  of  its  fall.  There  is,  I  repeat 
to  you,  but  a  single  power  capable  of  preserving  the  people 
from  the  dangers  with  which  a  revolution,  under  such  social 
conditions,  menaces  them,  and  this  is  the  power  of  the  people ; 
it  is  entire  liberty.  It  is  the  suffrage,  will,  reason,  interest, 
the  hand  and  arm  of  all  —  the  republic  ! 

"  Yes,"  continued  he,  in  the  tones  of  complete  conviction, 
"  it  is  the  republic  alone  which  can  now  save  you  from  anarchy, 
civil  and  foreign  war,  spoliation,  the  scafibld,  the  decimation 
of  property,  the  overthrow  of  society  and  foreign  invasion. 
The  remedy  is  heroic,  I  know,  but,  at  crises  of  times  and 
ideas  like  these  in  which  we  live,  there  is  no  effective  policy 
but  one  as  great  and  audacious  as  the  crisis  itself.  By  giving, 
to-morrow,  the  republic  in  its  own  name  to  the  people,  you 
will  instantly  disarm  it  of  the  watchword  of  agitation.  What 
do  I  say  ?  You  will  instantly  change  its  anger  into  joy,  its 
fury  into  enthusiasm.  All  who  have  the  republican  sentiment 
at  heart,  all  who  have  had  a  dream  of  the  republic  in  their 
imaginations,  all  who  regret,  all  who  aspire,  all  who  reason,  all 
who  dream,  in  France,  —  republicans  of  the  secret  societies, 
republicans  militant,  speculative  republicans,  the  people,  the 
tribunes,  the  youth,  the  schools,  the  journalists,  men  of  hand 
and  men  of  head,  —  will  utter  but  one  cry,  will  gather  round 
their  standard,  will  arm  to  defend  it,  but  will  rally,  confusedly 
at  first,  but  in  order  afterward,  to  protect  the  government  and 
to  preserve  society  itself  behind  this  government  of  all ;  —  a 
supreme  force  which  may  have  its  agitations,  never  its  de- 
thronements and  its  ruins ;  for  this  government  rests  on  the 
very  foundations  of  the  nation.  It  alone  appeals  to  all.  This 
government  only  can  maintain  itself;  this  alone  can  govern 
itself;  this  only  can  unite,  in  the  voices  and  hands  of  all,  the 
reason  and  will,  the  arms  and  suffrages,  necessary  to  save  not 
only  the  nation  from  servitude,  but  society,  the  family  relation, 
property  and  morality,  which  are  menaced  by  the  cataclysm 
of  ideas  which  are  fermenting  beneath  the  foundations  of  this 
half-crumbled  throne.  If  s  narchy  can  be  subdued,  mark  it 
well,  it  is  by  the  republic  !  If  communism  can  be  conquered, 
it  is  by  the  republic  !  If  revolution  can  be  moderated,  it  is  by 
the  republic  !     If  blood  can  be  spared,  it  is  by  the  republic  ' 


92  HISTORY   OF   THE 

If  universal  war,  if  the  invasion  it  would  perhaps  bring  on 
as  the  reaction  of  Europe  upon  us,  can  be  avoided,  understand 
it  well  once  more,  it  is  by  the  republic.  This  is  why,  in  rea- 
son and  in  conscience,  as  a  statesman,  before  God  and  before 
you,  as  free  from  illusion  as  from  fanaticism,  if  the  hour  in 
which  we  deliberate  is  pregnant  with  a  revolution,  I  will  not 
conspire  for  a  counter-revolution.  I  conspire  for  none  —  but 
if  we  must  have  one,  I  will  accept  it  entire,  and  I  will  decide 
for  the  republic ! 

"  But,"  added  he,  rising-,  "  I  still  hope  that  God  will  spare 
my  country  this  crisis,  for  I  acquiesce  in  revolutions,  I  do  not 
make  them.  To  assume  the  responsibility  of  a  nation,  requires 
a  criminal,  a  madman,  or  a  God." 

"  Lamartine  is  right,"  cried  one  of  the  party.  "  More  im- 
partial than  we  are,  he  has  more  faith  in  our  ideas  than  we 
ourselves  have."  "  We  are  convinced,"  they  all  cried.  "  Let 
us  separate ;  and,"  they  added,  addressing  Lamartine,  "  do 
whatever  circumstances  shall  lead  you  to  think  is  best." 

• 

VI. 

While  this  was  passing  in  one  of  the  offices  of  the  Chamber, 
a  similar  scene  was  being  enacted  in  a  neighboring  apartment. 

A  young  man  who,  notwithstanding  his  years,  was  accredited 
by  republicans  of  more  advanced  age,  M.  Emanuel  Arago,  a 
son  of  the  illustrious  citizen  who  had  created  this  name,  strove 
to  engage  M.  Odilon  Barrot  with  the  party  of  the  republic. 

M.  Emanuel  Arago,  who  had  a  few  moments  before  left  the 
office  of  the  National,  where  he  had  addressed  the  people  from 
a  window,  had  drawn  together,  by  his  name  and  voice,  groups 
of  combatants  in  the  place  de  la  Concorde.  Arrested  at  the 
outlet  of  the  rue  Royale,  by  the  masses  of  troops  stationed  in 
this  square,  he  had  asked  to  speak  with  General  Bedeau.  The 
general  had  rode  up  at  full  speed,  and  given  him  permission  to 
pass,  as  an  envoy  of  the  people,  on  his  way  to  the  Chamber, 
with  advice  and  information  touching  a  cessation  of  hostilities. 
M.  Arago,  in  fact,  was  negotiating  with  deputies  of  different 
shades  of  opinion  in  this  office,  when  M.  Odilon  Barrot  came 
in  at  the  instigation  of  his  friends.  M.  Emanuel  Aragfo  and 
his  friends,  tho  editors  of  La  Reforme,  could  not  succeed  in 
winning  M.  Odilon  Barrot.  His  opinions  might  be  wavering ; 
his  duty  was  decided.  He  was  a  minister.  His  concessions 
would  have  been  treasons.     He  resisted  with  courage  ;  he  had 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  93 

the  eloquence  of  character.  There  are  men  who  turn  back 
and  become  greater  on  the  brink  of  an  abyss,  M.  Barrot  was 
one  of  these  men.  He  had  an  heroic  despair,  and  an  eloquence 
worthy  of  antiquity. 

Lamartine,  after  leaving  the  republicans  who  had  just  sur- 
rounded him,  entered  the  Chamber. 

VII. 

The  tribunes  were  full  and  mournful;  the  benches  of  the 
hall  were  scantly  occupied  by  deputies.  Their  pale  and  hag- 
gard faces  betrayed  the  sleeplessness  of  the  preceding  night, 
and  the  auguries  of  the  day.  The  members,  driven  every 
moment  from  their  seats  by  the  internal  agitation  of  their 
minds,  conversed  in  low  tones,  bending  upon  those  of  opposite 
opinion  scrutinizing  glances.  An  efTort  was  made  to  read  in 
the  countenances  of  the  opposition  members  the  fate  of  the  day. 
Some  sought  for  information  in  the  lobbies,  others  ascended 
the  platfonn  of  the  peristyle  to  watch  from  the  highest  point 
the  intelligible  movements  of  the  troops  and  people  on  the  place 
de  la  Concorde.  Every  minute,  distant  discharges  and  volleys 
of  musketry  shook  the  glasses  of  the  dome,  and  blanched  the 
cheeks  of  the  women  in  the  tribunes.  Lamartine  was  seated 
alone  on  his  solitary  bench.  He  did  not  exchange  a  word  with 
his  colleagues  during  the  two  hours  of  this  session.  His  fear 
was  as  silent  as  his  hope,  or  rather  he  knew  not  whether  he 
feared  or  hoped;  he  was  sad.  Revolutions  are  sphynxes. 
They  have  a  meaning  which  is  only  solicited  in  terror. 


VIII. 

M.  Thiers  appeared  for  a  moment  in  the  ante-chamber,  his 
head  bare,  his  countenance  distorted  by  the  revulsion  of  the 
scene  in  which  he  had  just  been  an  actor,  or  the  witness  of  the 
departure  of  the  king.  The  monarchical  deputies  surrounded 
hin»,  and  pressed  him  with  questions.  He  bowed  as  if  beneath 
the  weight  of  destiny,  and  then  rose  and  lifted  his  hat  above 
his  head,  with  the  gesture  of  a  pilot  in  time  of  shipwreck. 
"  The  flood  is  rising  —  rising,"  said  he,  and  disappeared  in  the 
crowd.  This  expression  filled  those  who  heard  it  with  conster- 
nation.    It  was  the  cry  of  distress,  stifled  by  resignation. 

The  president's  chair  was  empty,  as  if  the  thoughts  of  the 
Chamber  hail  been  visibly  absent  from  this  symbol  of  delib- 


94  JIISTORY    OF   THE 

eration.  M.  Sauzet,  the  president,  equally  beloved  by  the 
Chamber  and  the  king,  at  length  took  his  seat.  M.  Sauzet's 
countenance  exhibited  the  presentiment  of  the  session,  the  sad- 
ness attending  the  funeral  obsequies  of  the  dynasty.  Not  a 
single  minister  was  on  the  government  benches.  The  inter- 
regnum was  visible  everywhere.  The  eyes  of  the  Chamber 
look  for  a  man  to  question,  a  sign  of  power  to  surround.  Si- 
lence reigned.  A  young  deputy,  M.  Laffitte,  a  name  fatal 
to  thrones,  ascended  the  tribune.  He  addressed  all  parties, 
particularly  the  opposition,  generous  because  triumphant,- 
and  demanded  that  the  Chamber,  occupied  with  the  public 
safety,  should  declare  its  sitting  permanent.  This  was  the 
signal  for  conclusive  moments.  The  Chamber  unanimously 
adopted  the  motion.  But  the  monarchical  deputies  limited 
themselves  to  this  measure.  No  initiative  measure  issued 
from  their  ranks.     The  hour  was  lost  in  a  vain  attempt. 

Meanwhile  an  officer  in  uniform  hurriedly  entered  the  hall. 
He  ascended  the  steps  of  the  tribune,  and  whispered  in  the  ear 
of  M.  Sauzet.  M.  Sauzet  rose,  requested  silence,  and  an- 
nounced, in  a  voice  of  firmness  and  emotion,  that  the  Duchess 
of  Orleans  and  her  children  wished  to  enter  the  hall.  The 
announcement  of  the  arrival  of  the  princess  excited  agitation, 
but  not  astonishment.  Abdication  was  predicted.  A  procla- 
mation of  the  regency  was  looked  for.  The  flight  of  the  king 
was  unknown.  It  was  thought  natural  that  the  princess,  the 
mother  of  the  young  king,  should  come  to  present  her  son  for 
the  adoption  of  the  country,  through  the  Chamber  of  Deputies. 
The  attendants  placed  two  seats  and  an  arm-chair  at  the  foot 
of  the  tribune,  fronting  the  assembly.  The  deputies  came 
down  from  the  upper  part  of  the  hall,  to  be  nearer  the  scene. 
The  spectators  in  the  tribunes  bent  forward,  with  their  faces 
turned  towards  the  doors.  The  attitude  of  aU  indicated  respect 
for  the  place  and  anxiety  for  the  spectacle. 

IX. 

The  large  door  which  is  opposite  the  tribune,  on  a  level  with 
the  highest  seats  in  the  hall,  was  thrown  open.  A  lady  ap- 
peared —  it  was  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  She  was  dressed  in 
mourning.  Her  veil,  half  raised  upon  her  bonnet,  suffered  the 
eye  to  rest  upon  a  face  impressed  with  an  emotion  and  sadness 
which  set  off  her  youth  and  beauty.  Her  pale  cheeks  bore 
traces  of  a  widow's  tears,  and  the  anxiety  of  a  mother.     It  is 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  95 

impossible  for  a  man  to  look  upon  such  fer.tures  without  feeling. 
All  resentment  to  the  monarchy  vanished  from  the  heart.  The 
blue  eyes  of  the  princess  wandered  over  the  space,  which  seemed 
for  a  moment  to  dazzle  them,  as  if  to  ask  shelter  from  all  eyes. 
Her  frail  and  slender  figure  bowed  before  the  tumult  of  ap- 
plause which  welcomed  her.  A  slight  blush,  the  light  of  hope 
in  misfortune,  and  joy  in  mourning,  tinged  her  cheeks.  Her 
smile  of  gratitude  shone  through  her  tears.  It  was  evident 
that  she  felt  herself  surrounded  by  friends.  She  held  in  her 
right  hand  the  young  king,  who  tottered  on  the  steps,  and  in 
her  left  her  other  son,  the  young  Duke  of  Chartres,  children 
to  whom  their  catastrophe  was  a  show.  They  both  wore  short 
jackets  of  black  cloth.  White  collars  fell  from  their  necks  upon 
their  dresses,  living  portraits  of  the  children  of  Charles  I., 
stepped  from  the  canvass  of  Vandyke. 

The  Duke  of  Nemours,  faithful  to  his  brother's  memory  in 
his  nephews,  walked  beside  the  duchess,  a  protector  who  would 
soon  need  protection  himself  The  countenance  of  this  prince, 
ennobled  by  misfortune,  expressed  the  brave  but  modest  satis- 
faction of  having  accomplished  a  duty  at  the  peril  of  his  ambition 
and  his  life.  A  few  generals  in  uniform,  and  officers  of  the  Na- 
tional Guard,  came  down  in  the  train  of  the  princess.  She  saluted 
the  motionless  assembly  with  timid  grace,  and  seated  herself 
at  the  foot  of  the  tribune,  like  an  accused  but  innocent  person 
before  a  tribunal  from  which  there  was  no  appeal,  who  hac' 
just  listened  to  the  trial  of  the  cause  of  royalty.  At  this  mo- 
ment this  cause  was  gained  in  the  hearts  and  eyes  of  all. 
Nature  will  always  triumph  over  policy  in  an  assembly  of  men 
moved  by  the  three  great  powers  of  woman  over  the  human 
heart  —  youth,  maternity  and  pity. 

X. 

A  word  seemed  to  be  expected.  The  orator's  tribune  was 
empty.  Who  would  dare  speak  in  the  face  of  such  a  spectacle  ? 
The  scene  itself  was  permitted  to  speak.  Emotion  produces 
reserve. 

Meanwhile  time  pressed.  It  was  necessary  to  preface  the 
revolution  by  a  vote,  or  all  speech  would  come  too  late.  A 
deputy,  well  known  for  his  independence  and  intrepidity,  M. 
Lacrosse,  geneious  and  frank  like  all  the  men  of  Brittany,  with 
a  needless  distrust  of  his  influence,  arose.  With  the  visible 
design  of  drawing  out  the  eloquence  of  one  of  the  masters  of 


96  HISTORY   OF    THE 

the  tribune,  he  asked  that  the  floor  should  be  given  to  M. 
Dupin. 

The  intention  was  good,  but  it  wanted  tact.  A  subdued  agi- 
tation ran  through  the  assembly,  and  raised  a  whispering  which 
swelled  almost  to  a  murmur.  M.  Dupin  was  regarded  as  the 
personal  confidant  of  the  king.  The  leader  of  his  private 
counsels,  he  was  looked  upon,  in  such  a  crisis,  less  as  the  orator 
of  the  nation  than  as  the  confidential  interpreter  of  the  wishes 
of  the  court.  It  was  whispered  that  the  king  Avas  going  to 
speak.  Distrust  took  arms  in  advance  against  cajolery.  Men 
hardened  themselves,  through  pride,  to  detect  and  avoid  a  snare. 
It  was  a  drama  planned  at  night  in  the  Tuileries.  The  trap 
was  seen  through,  the  effect  failed.  A  cry  from  the  heart,  a 
military  gesture  of  M.  Lacrosse  would  have  carried  away  the 
assembly.  A  great  orator  froze  it.  Everything  lies  in  the 
hour.  It  was  not  the  hour  for  M.  Dupin.  It  was  that  of  an 
uncultivated  but  communicable  feeling.  Lacrosse  had  that 
feeling  at  heart,  and  would  have  found  it  in  words. 

M.  Dupin  was  sensible  of  this  himself,  and  he  had  the  instinct 
of  silence.  "  I  have  not  asked  the  floor,"  he  said,  with  astonish- 
ment. But  the  impatient  assembly  pointed  to  the  tribune — he 
ascended  it. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  in  a  tone  which  betrayed  the  tremor 
of  the  monarchy,  "  you  know  the  situation  of  the  capital  and 
the  scenes  which  have  taken  place.  They  have  resulted  in  the 
abdication  of  his  majesty,  Louis  Philippe,  who  has  declared  that 
he  has  relinquished  his  power,  and  bestowed  it,  in  free  trans- 
mission, on  the  head  of  the  Count  de  Paris,  with  the  regency  of 
Madame  la  Duchesse  d'Orleans." 

The  friends  of  the  dynasty  hastened  to  applaud,  as  if  to  seize 
in  the  first  moment  of  surprise  on  that  regency  which  discus- 
sion might  deprive  them  of.  They  pretended  to  receive  as 
proofs  of  the  inauguration  of  a  new  monarchy  the  shouts  of 
respectful  feeling  which  greeted  a  child  and  a  woman  with  the 
names  of  regent  and  king. 

M.  Dupin  wished  to  register  these  shouts  in  the  tribune  itself, 
as  if  to  render  th  3m  irrevocable.  "  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  these 
cries,  so  precious  to  the  new  king  and  the  regent,  are  not  the 
first  which  have  saluted  her.  She  has  traversed  on  foot  the 
Tuileries  and  the  place  de  la  Concorde,  escorted  by  the  people 
and  by  the  National  Guard,  expressing  the  same  wish.  As  she 
has  resolved,  from  the  bottom  of  her  heart,  to  administer  the 
government  only  with  a  profound  feeling  for  the  public  interest, 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843. 


9^1 


the  national  will,  and  the  glory  and  prosperity  of  France,  I  de- 
mand that  your  acclamations  be  recorded." 

Fewer  shouts  replied  to  these  words.  Enthusiasm,  like 
thunder,  has  but  one  flash  ;  if  one  rises  he  has  escaped. 

M.  Sauzet  attempted  to  fix  it.  "  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  in 
his  tuni,  "  it  appears  tome  that  the  Chamber,  by  its  unanimous 
acclamations " 

He  was  not  permitted  to  finish.  An  unusual  noise  was  heard 
at  the  door  on  the  left,  at  the  foot  of  the  tribune.  Unknown 
individuals.  National  Guards  in  arms,  and  men  of  the  people  in 
their  working-clothes,  forced  the  door,  jostled  the  ushers  at  the 
foot  of  the  tribune,  invaded  half  the  hemicycle,  and  assailed  the 
Duke  of  Nemours  with  deep  vociferations. 

Some  of  the  deputies  rushed  before,  to  make  a  barrier  for  the 
princess  with  their  bodies.  M.  Mauguin,  cahn  and  erect,  re- 
pelled them  by  his  gestures  and  his  breast.  General  Oudinot 
spoke  to  them  in  a  tone  of  martial  anger.  He  afterwards  passed 
through  this  crowd  to  go  to  the  court-yard  and  summon  the  aid 
of  the  National  Guard.  He  reminded  them  of  the  inviolabil- 
ity of  the  assembly,  and  the  respect  due  to  a  princess  and  a 
woman,  from  French  bayonets.  The  National  Guards  listened 
to  him,  and  pretended  to  share  his  indignation,  but  took  up  their 
arms  leisurely,  and  ended  by  temporizing  with  the  event. 

Oudinot  reentered  the  hall  indignantly.  His  uncertain 
opinions  as  a  deputy  with  regard  to  the  dynasty  were  only  in 
his  heart.  As  a  man  and  a  soldier  he  resented  an  insult  to  a 
woman. 

The  sitting,  interrupted  by  this  partial  invasion  of  the  people, 
was  resumed.  The  deputies  revolted  against  the  insinuations 
of  the  president,  who  would  have  recorded  the  acclamations  of 
a  few  as  the  vote  of  all.  They  rushed  forward  to  the  foot  of  the 
two  staircases  of  the  tribune  to  utter  their  protest.  M.  Marie, 
a  calm  and  impressive  orator,  of  a  strict  but  moderate  opposi- 
tion, succeeded  in  ascending  it.  Others,  by  noise  and  gesture, 
contested  his  position.  He  crossed  his  arms  upon  his  breast, 
and  waited  for  his  right. 

The  esteem  felt  for  his  character  redoubled  the  interest  of  his 
speech.  His  lo  'ty  stature,  his  small  but  marked  features,  im- 
pressed his  person  with  something  tragic,  which  recalled  the 
Roman  bust.  He  looked  down  upon  the  storm  without  yield- 
ing to  it,  but  without  subduing  it. 

Lamartine  felt  that  deliberation  would  lose  its  liberty  if  the 
regency  was  discussed  over  the  head  of  the  regent  and  her  sons. 
9* 


il 


98  HISTORY    OF    THr 

He  wished  to  save  both  the  spirit  of  the  assembly  from  the 
oppression  of  a  sentiment,  and  the  duchess  from  the  profana- 
tion of  her  woe.  He  arose  from  his  seat,  and  addressing  M. 
Sauzet,  said  :  "  I  ask  the  president  to  suspend  the  session,  for 
two  reasons  —  the  respect  due  to  the  national  representation, 
and  that  due  to  the  august  princess  who  is  here  before  us." 

XL 

The  president  obeyed  this  counsel,  which  at  once  rendered 
dignity  to  the  vote,  and  decency  to  rank,  sex,  and  misfortune. 
The  Duchess  of  Orleans  hesitated  to  retire  ;  she  seemed  to 
foresee  that  her  presence  was  the  only  remaining  guarantee  for 
the  establishment  of  royalty.  General  Oudinot  sprang  to  the 
tribune,  to  delay  the  departure  of  the  princess,  or  to  honor  her 
with  a  last  salute.  "  An  appeal  has  been  made  to  all  the  feel- 
ings of  generosity,"  said  the  gallant  soldier ;  "  the  princess,  we 
have  been  told,  has  traversed  the  Tuileries  and  the  place  de  la 
Concorde,  alone  and  on  foot,  with  her  children,  in  the  midst  of 
public  acclamations.  If  she  wishes  to  retire,  let  the  doors  be 
opened  to  her,  and  our  respects  encircle  her,  as  she  was  lately 
greeted  by  the  salutations  of  the  city  of  Paris." 

No  remonstrances  against  the  departure  of  the  princess  being 
heard,  in  spite  of  the  skilful  allusions  of  the  orator  to  the  love 
of  the  people,  he  added,  "  Let  us  accompany  her  wherever  she 
wishes  to  go." 

The  princess  had  but  to  say,  "  I  would  go  to  the  Tuileries," 
and  the  Chamber,  en  masse,  the  people,  touched  by  the  spec- 
tacle, would  have  carried  her  back  on  the  same  wave  which 
had  just  driven  her  forth. 

She  dared  not  interpose  a  word.  Oudinot  seemed  to  wait 
for  it.  His  sword,  doubtless,  would  have  covered  the  widow 
and  her  children.  "  If  she  ask  to  remain  within  these  walls," 
he  continued,  "let  her  remain  ;  and  she  will  be  in  the  right," 
he  added,  with  an  emphasis  which  seemed  to  nail  the  princess 
to  her  seat,  "  for  she  will  be  protected  here  by  our  devotion." 

XII. 

But  as  the  tumult  increased  at  both  doors,  and  at  the  foot  of 
the  tribune,  the  duchess,  respectfully  urged  by  the  officers  of 
her  suite,  by  the  Duke  of  Nemours  and  the  deputies  of  the 
centre,  left  her  place,  mounted  the  steps  she  had  so  recently 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843. 


99 


descended,  and  seated  herself  on  one  of  the  last  benches  in 
front  of  the  tribune.  A  group  of  deputies  stood  up  to  protect 
her.  Increasing  rumors  from  without  were  swallowed  up  by 
the  interior.  M.  Marie  braved  the  prese^ice  of  the  august 
client  of  the  assembly. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  in  the  present  situation  of  Paris, 
you  have  not  an  hour  to  lose  in  adopting  measures  which  may 
have  an  authority  over  the  populace.  Since  the  morning  the 
evil  has  made  immense  progress.  What  part  is  to  be  taken  ? 
The  regency  of  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  has  just  been  pro- 
claimed ;  but  you  have  a  law  which  appoints  the  Duke  of 
Nemours  regent.  You  must  obey  the  law.  Still,  we  must 
take  counsel.  In  the  first  place,  an  imposing  government  is  re- 
quisite at  the  head  of  the  capital,  as  the  head  of  the  entire  king- 
dom.   I  ask  that  a  provisional  government  shall  be  established." 

Not  a  murmur  rose  at  these  decided  words.  Royalty,  re- 
gency, had  all  vanished  from  the  mind.  The  complaisant 
friends  of  the  regency  of  the  king's  eldest  son,  now  thrown 
into  consternation,  were  sensible  how  great  a  fault  they  had 
committed  in  violating  the  law  of  nature  which  had  nominated 
the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  There  would  not  now  be  a  gap  to 
close  by  a  new  law,  a  constitution  to  violate,  an  interval  of 
time  necessary  to  abrogate  and  reenact  this  law,  or  a  monarchy 
to  cast  into  the  gulf  with  the  regent. 

"  When  this  government  shall  be  constituted,"  continued  M. 
Marie,  "  it  will  advise  in  concurrence  with  the  Chambers,  and 
it  will  have  authority  over  the  country.  This  plan  adopted, 
Paris  must  be  instantly  informed  of  it.  It  is  the  only  means 
of  reestablishing  its  tranquillity.  At  such  a  moment,  we  must 
not  lose  our  time  in  vain  discourse.  I  ask  to  have  a  provis- 
ional government  organized." 


XIII. 

The  tribune  applauded.  No  opponent  arose.  The  Duchess 
of  Orleans  grew  paler.  The  Duke  of  Nemours  took  notes 
with  a  pencil,  as  if  he  were  preparing  for  a  magnanimous 
renunciation. 

A  popular  orator,  M.  Cremieux,  who  had  just  escorted  the 
king  to  his  carriage,  touched  with  the  grandeur  of  the  situa- 
tion, and  the  pathos  of  the  spectacle,  slipped  into  the  hands  of 
tlie  princess  a  few  words  calculated  to  flatter  th  t  nation,  and 
to  procure  the  surrender  of  empire  by  the  hands  of  the  people 


100  HISTORY    OF    THE 

themselves  to  the  widow  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  Tf  it  was  a 
crime,  at  least  it  was  a  crime  of  pity.  Who  would  not  have 
committed  this  crime,  if  he  had  found  himself  beside  this  poor 
woman  ? 

Still,  M.  Cremieux  ascended  the  tribune  after  M.  Marie. 
"In  1830,"  said  he,  "we  were  too  hasty  —  here  we  are,  in 
1848,  obliged  to  begin  again.  We  would  not  hurry  ourselves 
in  1848.  We  would  proceed  regularly,  legally,  and  forcibly. 
The  provisional  government  which  you  will  name  will  be  not 
only  intrusted  with  the  maintenance  of  order,  but  with  giving 
ns  institutions  which  will  protect  all  portions  of  the  population, 
which  was  promised  in  1830,  but  which  has  not  been  fulfilled. 
For  my  own  part,  I  confess  to  you  that  I  have  the  most  pro- 
found respect  for  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  I  have  just  es- 
corted—  it  was  a  mournful  honor  —  the  royal  family  to  the 
carriages  which  carry  them  away  on  their  journey.  I  did 
not  fail  to  perform  this  duty.  But  now  the  populace  and 
the  National  Guard  have  manifested  their  opinions.  Well, 
the  proclamation  of  the  regency,  which  has  just  been  proposed 
to  you,  would  violate  a  law  already  passed ;  let  us  appoint  a 
provisional  government."  {TJie  applause  increased,  and  became 
general.)  "  Let  it  be  just,  firm,  vigorous,  and  friendly  to  the 
country  to  which  it  can  address  itself.  We  have  now  reached 
what  the  revolution  of  July  should  have  given  us.  Let  us 
profit  by  events.  Let  us  not  leave  to  our  children  the  task  of 
renewing  this  revolution.  I  ask  for  a  provisional  government, 
consisting  of  five  members." 

While  nearly  the  whole  assembly  adopted  this  motion  by 
applause  or  resignation,  the  young  king,  at  his  mother's  knee, 
cast  a  bewildered  look  on  the  tumultuous  movement  of  the 
assembly,  and  applauded  with  his  little  hands  the  motion 
which  dethroned  him.  The  duchess  crumpled  in  her  hands  the 
paper  which  contained  the  words  noted  down  by  M.  Cremieux. 
She  made  M.  Dupin  read  thf  m,  and  he  appeared  to  approve  of 
them. 


XIV. 

M.  Odilon  Barrot  came  in,  and  with  a  slow  and  solemn  step 
mounted  the  orator's  staircase,  which  he  had  so  often  ascended 
and  descended  amidst  the  applause  of  the  opposition.  His 
face  was  pale,  his  brows  contracted  by  anxiety,  his  eye  darker 
aad  fuller  of  doubt  than  ever.    His  forehead  seemed  shadowed 


REVOLUTION   Oi     1848.  101 

by  the  cloud  of  the  future.  He  was  looked  upon  with  respect. 
His  decision  may  be  doubted,  his  conscience  never.  Disinter- 
ested patriotism  is  his  religion.  Popularity  is  his  only  weak- 
ness. He  had  fluctuated  all  his  life  lietween  the  republic  and 
monarchy,  tending  always  towards  the  popular  state,  and 
reserved  towards  the  throne.  He  was  forced  to  make  an  elec- 
tion—  this  hour  summed  up  and  interrogated  his  life.  It 
pitilessly  demanded  of  him  the  ultimatum  which,  in  1830,  he 
asked  of  Lafayette  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  M.  Barrot  is  the 
Lafayette  of  orators ;  the  republic  or  monarchy  hung  upon  his 
lips. 

"  Never,"  said  he,  "  have  we  had  more  need  of  coolness  and 
prudence.  Would  you  were  all  united  in  one  sentiment,  that 
of  saving  the  country  from  the  most  detestable  of  scourges,  a 
civil  war  !  Nations  do  not  die  !  But  they  may  become  weak 
through  internal  dissensions,  and  never  had  France  greater 
need  of  all  her  greatness  and  all  her  strength.  Our  duty  is 
all  marked  out.  Fortunately,  it  possesses  that  simplicity 
which  impresses  a  whole  nation.  It  addresses  itself  to  its 
most  generous  and  genial  qualities,  its  courage  and  its  honor. 
The  crown  of  July  rests  on  the  heads  of  a  child  and  a 
woman." 

The  centre  of  the  assembly,  where  the  friends  of  the  dj^- 
nasty  were  assembled,  saluted  anew  these  words  with  frenzied 
plaudits.  They  thought  they  saw  destiny  inclining  in  the 
direction  to  which  the  popularity  of  M.  Barrot  leaned.  The 
duchess  herself,  with  a  happy  instinct  of  gratitude,  rose  and 
saluted  the  assembl3\  All  her  gestures  inspired  a  movement 
of  curiosity  and  an  expression  of  tender  interest  in  attitudes 
and  faces.     She  resumed  her  seat. 

The  young  king  rose  at  a  sign  from  the  princess,  and  in 
his  turn  bowed  to  those  who  had  applauded  his  mother.  The 
Duke  of  Nemours  whispered  the  duchess.  She  rose  again, 
with  more  visible  timidity.  She  held  a  paper  in  her  hand. 
She  shook  it,  as  she  showed  it  to  the  president.  A  voice, 
feminine,  clear  and  vibrating,  but  choked  by  emotion,  issued 
from  the  group  that  surrounded  her,  and  with  a  slight  trem- 
bling, sent  a  light  murmur  through  the  assembly.  It  wac:  the 
duchess,  who  asked  permission  to  speak  to  the  representatives 
of  the  nation.  Who  would  have  resisted  this  voice  ?  Who 
would  not  have  felt  the  tears,  by  which  it  was  doubtless  inter- 
rupted, fall  ypon  his  heart  ?  It  was  a.'l  over  with  the  discussion. 
The  president  did  not  see  this  gesture,  or  hear  this  voice,  oi 


102  HISTORY    CF   THE 

affected  not  to  see  or  hear  them,  to  leave  the  minds  of  the 
assembly  to  M.  Barret.  The  duchess,  silenced  and  terrified 
at  her  own  audacity,  resumed  her  seat.  Nature,  vanquished, 
remained  mute.     What  could  eloquence  achieve  ? 

M.  Barrot  resumed.  "  It  is  in  the  name  of  political  liberty 
in  our  country ;  it  is  in  the  name  of  the  exigences  of  order 
particularly ;  in  the  name  of  our  union,  and  our  harmony  in 
circumstances  of  such  difficulty,  that  I  ask  my  whole  country 
to  rally  round  its  representatives,  and  the  revolution  of  July. 
The  more  grandeur  and  generosity  there  is  in  thus  sustaining 
and  raising  up  innocence,  the  more  courage  my  country  will 
display  in  its  devotion.  As  for  me,  I  shall  be  happy  in  conse- 
crating my  existence,  and  all  the  faculties  I  have  in  the  world, 
to  secure  the  triumph  of  this  cause,  which  is  that  of  true  liberty 
in  my  country. 

"  Can  it  possibly  be,  that  what  we  decided  by  the  revolution 
of  July  can  be  called  in  question  ?  Gentlemen,  the  crisis  is 
difficult,  I  confess,  but  the  country  possesses  such  elements  of 
grandeur,  generosity,  and  good  sense,  that  I  am  convinced  it 
will  be  sufficient  to  appeal  to  them,  to  induce  the  population 
of  Paris  to  rise  around  this  standard.  There  are  all  the  means 
to  insure  the  liberty  which  this  country  has  the  right  to  claim, 
to  reconcile  it  with  all  the  necessities  of  order  which  are  so 
necessary  to  it,  to  rally  all  the  vital  forces  of  this  country,  and 
to  meet  the  great  trials  which  are  possibly  reserved  for  it. 
This  duty  is  simple,  and  traced  out  by  honor,  and  the  true 
interests  of  the  country.  If  we  do  not  know  how  to  fulfil  it 
with  firmness,  perseverance,  and  courage,  I  know  not  what 
may  be  the  consequences.  But  be  convinced,  as  I  said  in  the 
commencement,  that  he  who  has  the  courage  to  take  the 
responsibility  of  a  civil  war,  in  the  heart  of  our  noble  France, 
is  guilty  in  the  highest  degree,  —  a  criminal  to  his  country,  to 
the  liberty  of  France,  and  of  the  entire  world.  As  for  me, 
gentlemen,  I  cannot  assume  this  responsibility.  The  regency 
of  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  a  ministry  taken  from  the  most 
approved  opinions,  will  give  further  pledges  to  liberty;  and 
may  an  appeal  to  the  country,  to  public  opinion  in  all  its  lib- 
erty, be  pronounced  then,  and  pronounced  without  straying 
into  the  rival  pretensions  of  civil  war,  in  the  name  of  the  inter- 
ests of  the  country  and  of  true  liberty.  I  could  not  take  the 
responsibility  of  any  other  position." 


REVOLUTION   OF    1843.  103 


XV. 


This  address  died  away  in  silence,  or  in  murmurs.  Time 
had  glided  on  vhile  the  orator  -was  speaking.  M.  Barrot  was 
already  in  the  past.  The  present  was  no  longer  his.  The 
future  had  escaped  him. 

M.  de  Larochejaquelein  sprang  to  the  tribune.  The  son 
of  the  hero  of  La  Vendee,  M.  de  Larochejaquelein  had  ac- 
cepted the  responsibility  of  the  cause  and  glory  of  his  father. 
But  though  a  Vendean  at  heart,  he  was  liberal  and  almost  repub- 
lican by  intelligence.  In  default  of  a  legitimate  king,  decap- 
itated or  proscribed  by  the  omnipotence  of  events,  he  acknowl- 
edged the  people  as  king.  He  appealed  to  the  insurrection  of 
1^0,  to  the  liberty  of  all  time.  His  skill  was  frankness ;  his 
parliamentary  strategy,  honor ;  his  eloquence,  the  sudden  and 
always  generous  cry  of  his  conscience.  In  the  midst  of  so 
many  orators,  he  was  the  knightly  orator,  the  gentleman  of 
the  tribune.  His  voice  had  the  explosions  of  a  cannon  on  the 
field  of  battle.  His  fine  countenance,  his  hair,  thick  as  a 
lion's  mane,  his  lofty  forehead,  his  advanced  breast,  his  heroic 
gestures,  made  an  impression  on  all  eyes.  A  certain  joyous- 
ness  of  tone  rendered  him  pleasing  to  the  people,  who  for- 
gave his  royalist  name  in  favor  of  his  opposition  to  the  new 
Toyalty. 

On  seeing  him  spring  to  the  tribune,  it  was  thought  he  was 
about  to  claim  the  crown  for  Henry  V.  A  murmur  revealed 
this  thought.  M.  de  Larochejaquelein  heard  it,  and  refuted  it 
by  a  gesture. 

"  No  one  respects  more  than  I  do,"  said  he,  bowing  slightly  to 
the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  "  no  one  respects  more  than  I  do,  or  feels 
more  profoundly  than  I  do,  whatever  interest  there  is  in  certain 
situations.  I  do  not  meet  my  first  trial.  I  do  not  come  here 
to  raise  mad  pretensions  in  opposition  to  those  alluded  to  by 
M.  Barrot.  No.  But  I  think  M.  Barrot  has  not  served  as  he 
wished  the  interests  he  would  have  saved.  Perhaps  it  belongs 
to  those  who,  in  past  times,  have  always  served  kings,  to  speak 
now  of  the  country  and  the  people."  Then,  drawing  himself 
up  to  his  full  height,  and  addressing  the  deputies  of  the  centre 
with  a  withering  gesture  of  truth  and  defiance,  "  To-day,"  he 
exclaimed,  in  the  <leepest  roar  of  his  voice,  "you  are  nothing  ! 
•o4hing ! " 


102  HISTORY    CF   THE 

affected  not  to  see  or  hear  them,  to  leave  the  minds  of  the 
assembly  to  M.  Barrot.  The  duchess,  silenced  and  terrified 
at  her  own  audacity,  resumed  her  seat.  Nature,  vanquished, 
remained  mute.     What  could  eloquence  achieve  ? 

M.  Barrot  resumed.  "  It  is  in  the  name  of  political  liberty 
in  our  country ;  it  is  in  the  name  of  the  exigences  of  order 
particularly ;  in  the  name  of  our  union,  and  our  harmony  in 
circumstances  of  such  difficulty,  that  I  ask  my  whole  country 
to  rally  round  its  representatives,  and  the  revolution  of  July. 
The  more  g-randeur  and  generosity  there  is  in  thus  sustaining 
and  raising  up  innocence,  the  more  courage  my  country  veill 
display  in  its  devotion.  As  for  me,  I  shall  be  happy  in  conse- 
crating my  existence,  and  all  the  faculties  I  have  in  the  world, 
to  secure  the  triumph  of  this  cause,  which  is  that  of  true  liberty 
in  my  country. 

"  Can  it  possibly  be,  that  what  we  decided  by  the  revolution 
of  July  can  be  called  in  question  ?  Gentlemen,  the  crisis  is 
difficult,  I  confess,  but  the  country  possesses  such  elements  of 
grandeur,  generosity,  and  good  sense,  that  I  am  convinced  it 
will  be  sufficient  to  appeal  to  them,  to  induce  the  population 
of  Paris  to  rise  around  this  standard.  There  are  all  the  means 
to  insure  the  liberty  which  this  country  has  the  right  to  claim, 
to  reconcile  it  with  all  the  necessities  of  order  which  are  so 
necessary  to  it,  to  rally  all  the  vital  forces  of  this  country,  and 
to  meet  the  great  trials  which  are  possibly  reserved  for  it. 
This  duty  is  simple,  and  traced  out  by  honor,  and  the  true 
interests  of  the  country.  If  we  do  not  know  how  to  fulfil  it 
with  firmness,  perseverance,  and  courage,  I  know  not  what 
may  be  the  consequences.  But  be  convinced,  as  I  said  in  the 
commencement,  that  he  who  has  the  courage  to  take  the 
responsibility  of  a  civil  war,  in  the  heart  of  our  noble  France, 
is  guilty  in  the  highest  degree,  —  a  criminal  to  his  country,  to 
the  liberty  of  France,  and  of  the  entire  world.  As  for  me, 
gentlemen,  I  cannot  assume  this  responsibility.  The  regency 
of  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  a  ministry  taken  from  the  most 
approved  opinions,  will  give  further  pledges  to  liberty;  and 
may  an  appeal  to  the  country,  to  public  opinion  in  all  its  lib- 
erty, be  pronounced  then,  and  pronounced  without  straying 
into  the  rival  pretensions  of  civil  war,  in  the  name  of  the  inter- 
ests of  the  country  and  of  true  liberty.  I  could  not  take  the 
responsibility  of  any  other  position." 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S13.  103 

XV. 

This  address  died  away  in  silence,  or  in  murmurs.  Time 
had  glided  on  vhile  the  orator  ^vas  speaking.  M.  Barrot  was 
already  in  the  past.  The  present  was  no  longer  his.  The 
future  had  escaped  him. 

M.  de  Larochejaquelein  sprang  to  the  tribune.  The  son 
of  the  hero  of  La  Vendee,  M.  de  Larochejaquelein  had  ac- 
cepted the  responsibility  of  the  cause  and  glory  of  his  father. 
But  though  a  Vendean  at  heart,  he  was  liberal  and  almost  repub- 
lican by  intelligence.  In  default  of  a  legitimate  king,  decap- 
itated or  proscribed  by  the  omnipotence  of  events,  he  acknowl- 
edged the  people  as  king.  He  appealed  to  the  insurrection  of 
1830,  to  the  liberty  of  all  time.  His  skill  was  frankness ;  his 
parliamentary  strategy,  honor ;  his  eloquence,  the  sudden  and 
always  generous  cry  of  his  conscience.  In  the  midst  of  so 
many  orators,  he  was  the  knightly  orator,  the  gentleman  of 
the  tribune.  His  voice  had  the  explosions  of  a  cannon  on  the 
field  of  battle.  His  fine  countenance,  his  hair,  thick  as  a 
lion's  mane,  his  lofty  forehead,  his  advanced  breast,  his  heroic 
gestures,  made  an  impression  on  all  eyes.  A  certain  joyous- 
ness  of  tone  rendered  him  pleasing  to  the  people,  who  for- 
gave his  royalist  name  in  favor  of  his  opposition  to  the  new 
Toyalty. 

On  seeing  him  spring  to  the  tribune,  it  was  thought  he  was 
about  to  claim  the  crown  for  Henry  V.  A  murmur  revealed 
this  thought.  M.  de  Larochejaquelein  heard  it,  and  refuted  it 
by  a  gesture. 

"  No  one  respects  more  than  I  do,"  said  he,  bowing  slightly  to 
the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  "  no  one  respects  more  than  I  do,  or  feels 
more  profoundly  than  I  do,  whatever  interest  there  is  in  certain 
situations.  I  do  not  meet  my  first  trial.  I  do  not  come  here 
to  raise  mad  pretensions  in  opposition  to  those  alluded  to  by 
M.  Barrot.  No.  But  I  think  M.  Barrot  has  not  served  as  he 
wished  the  interests  he  would  have  saved.  Perhaps  it  belongs 
to  those  who,  in  past  times,  have  always  served  kings,  to  speak 
now  of  the  country  and  the  people."  Then,  drawing  himself 
up  to  his  full  height,  and  addressing  the  deputies  of  the  centre 
ft'ith  a  withering  gesture  of  truth  and  defiance,  "  To-day,"  he 
exclaimed,  in  the  <leepest  roar  of  his  voice,  "  you  are  nothing ! 
tothing ! " 


104  HISTORY    OF    THE 

XVI. 

This  [ihrase  seemed  to  have  transfer; ed  to  the  assembly  the 
insurrection  of  the  street.  The  centre 8,  rising,  broke  out  inlo 
cries  and  gestures  of  indignation  and  r(;volt.  "When  1  said," 
resumed  the  unshaken  orator,  "  you  were  nothing,  I  did  not 
think  to  raise  such  a  tempest.  It  is  not  I,  a  deputy,  who  should 
tell  you  that  as  deputies  you  exist  no  longer,  I  say,  that  the 
Chamber  exists  no  longer  as " 

The  people  assumed  the  burthen  of  finishmg  u'le  sentence 
suspended  by  the  orator.  They  were  heard  rushing  against 
the  door  on  the  left,  at  the  foot  of  the  tribune.  The  clash  of 
arms,  the  cries,  shouts,  questions,  and  groans  of  men,  con- 
founded together,  rang  through  the  corridors. 

The  hall  and  the  tribunes  sprang  up  at  a  bound.  Men  with 
outstretched  arms,  bayonets,  sabres,  bars  of  iron,  and  torn  stand- 
ards above  their  heads,  forced  their  way  into  the  hemicycle. 
It  was  the  column  of  Captain  Dunoyer,  swelled  by  the  republi- 
cans it  had  recruited  on  its  route.  This  column  had  first 
entered  the  Tuileries  pell-mell,  with  the  masses  of  insurgents 
who  had  invaded  the  chateau  by  all  its  entrances.  They  had 
there  saved  the  Municipal  Guards,  and  the  soldiers  forgotten  in 
the  retreat.  Afterwards  reaching  the  fhrone-i'oom,  the  column 
had  been  there  preceded  by  Lagrange,  the  enthusiastic  com- 
batant of  the  insurrections  of  Lyons  and  Paris. 

La2:ran2;e  held  in  his  hand  the  abdication,  which  he  had 
taken,  as  we  have  seen,  from  Marshal  Gerard,  at  the  moment 
when  the  old  warrior  displayed  it  before  the  people  to  disarm 
them. 

Lagrange,  mounted  on  a  bench,  read  the  abdication,  and 
then,  surveying  his  auditory  with  an  inquisitive  look  and  a 
smile  of  disdain,  he  seemed  to  ask  if  this  miserable  satisfaction 
were  sufficient  for  the  blood  poured  out  for  three  days.  "  No  ! 
no  !  "  cried  the  victors.  "  No  royalty  —  nor  reign  ! "  —  "  Bravo, 
friends,"  cried  Lagrange,  "we  must  have  the  republic  I"  At 
this  word,  the  applause  broke  forth.  Orators  took  the  very 
throne  for  a  tribune.  They  mounted  it,  and  there  proclaimed 
the  abolition  of  royalty.  Captain  Dunoyer  and  his  men 
detached  one  of  the  flags  that  decorated  the  dais  of  the  throne. 
Others  imitated  them,  tore  the  standards,  divided  the  rags,  and 
made  trophies,  scarfs,  and  cockades  of  them.  Captain  Dunoyer 
rallied  around  the  flower  of  his  men,  F-ummoned  by  his  voice 
from   the  spectacle  of  the   destruction  of  the  chateau.     He 


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REVOLUTION    OF    1S43.  105 

re-formed  his  column,  and  cried,  "  To  the  Chamber !  et  us 
pursue  royalty  into  the  asylum  where  its  shadow  has  sought 
refuge." 

The  column  crossed  the  Seine,  and  moved  along  the  quay 
d'Orsay,  amid  cries  of  "  Domi  with  the  regency  I"  It  was 
swelled  in  its  progress  by  those  men  whom  popular  currents 
draw  in,  as  an  overflowing  river  absorbs,  without  selection,  all 
the  purity  and  impurity  upon  its  banks.  A  butcher's  boy,  his 
apron  stained  with  blood,  brandishing  a  cutlass  in  his  hand ; 
a  bare-headed  and  bald  old  man,  with  a  white  and  bristling 
beard,  armed  with  a  drawn  sword  of  antique  fashion,  taken 
from  some  museum,  whose  guard  was  formed  by  a  loaf  pierced 
by  the  long  blade,  —  a  living  model  of  the  painter's  studio ;  other 
vagabonds,  attracting  attention  by  their  rags  and  the  singular- 
ity of  their  arms  and  attire,  placed  themselves  at  the  head  ef 
the  National  Guards  and  combatants,  like  so  many  eruptions 
of  the  volcanic  explosion  of  the  people.  Pupils  of  the  Poly- 
technic School  marched  between  these  men  and  the  column. 
They  advanced  in  double-quick  time.  The  outposts  of  the 
line  in  vain  crossed  bayonets ;  the  republicans  beat  do^AOi  the 
arms  of  the  soldiers,  passed  them,  and  perceived  the  court 
carriages,  which  were  waiting  for  the  duchess,  at  the  doors  of 
the  Chamber.  They  were  afraid  that  the  supplications  and 
tears  of  a  woman  would  deprive  them  of  the  revolution. 
They  advanced  tumultuously  to  the  gate  opposite  the  bridge. 
Two  thousand  men,  in  battle  array,  commanded  by  General 
Gourgaud,  stayed  without  repulsing  them.  They  were  rea- 
soned with  in  vain.  They  were  called  upon  to  respect  the 
inviolability  of  the  representation.  "What!"  replied  one  of 
them,  "when  our  fathers  so  often  crossed  the  threshold  of  the 
National  Assembly,  and  the  Convention,  shall  we  not  once 
pass  the  doors  of  courtly  corruption  ?" 

XVII. 

General  Gourgaud  presented  himself  and  addressed  them. 
He  labored,  at  least,  to  temporize  with  them.  "  Wait,"  said 
he ;  "I  will  myself  enter  the  hall,  and  give  you  an  account  of 
their  doings." 

During  the  brief  absence  of  the  general,  a  party  of  republi- 
cans climbed  and  crossed  the  wall  of  the  exterior  enclosure, 
the  steps  of  the  peristyle,  and  tried  to  force  the  entrances  which 
open  under  the  columns  of  the  facade.  "  Stop,  my  lads,"  cried 
10 


106  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Gourgaud,  rejoining  them.  "  M.  Cremieux  is  in  the  tribune. 
He  is  now  opposing  the  regency.  M.  Marie,  whose  name  is 
familiar  to  you,  an  incorruptible  defender  of  your  cause,  will 
himself  announce  it  to  you." 

The  name  of  Marie  was  heard  with  respect.  The  military 
head  of  the  general,  the  reflection  of  the  name  of  Napoleon  on 
his,  pleaded  for  him.  "We  believe  you,  general,"  cried  Capt. 
Dunoyer,  the  leader  of  the  column.  "  But  the  friends  of  the 
people  are  few  in  the  Chamber.  The  purchased  majority  will 
stifle  their  voices.  It  will  be  too  late,  and  the  country  will  curse 
you  for  having  stayed  our  steps."  At  these  words,  Gourgaud, 
finding  it  impossible  to  quell  their  impetuosity,  yielded,  and  stood 
aside.  The  troops  remained  neutral.  The  National  Guards 
applauded.  M.  Marie  showed  himself  in  vain  ;  his  voice  was 
borne  down  by  the  tumult,  his  arms  compressed  by  the  crowd. 
This  crowd  opened,  overthrew  and  trampled  down  the  sen- 
tinels, ushers,  and  representatives,  who  endeavored  to  oppose 
the  torrent.  Col.  Dumoulin,  one  of  Napoleon's  old  ordnance 
officers,  who  united  the  fanaticism  of  his  militar}^  reminiscences 
to  the  republican  fanaticism,  threw  himself  into  the  head  of  the 
column,  as  if  to  lead  it  to  an  assault.  He  tore  the  standard  of 
the  throne  from  the  hands  of  one  of  the  combatants,  climbed 
the  orator's  stairway,  and  resting  the  standard  staff"  upon  the 
marble  of  the  tribune,  seemed  to  wait  for  an  orator  to  follow 
him  and  proclaim  the  revolution. 

At  the  foot  of  the  throne,  beneath  the  folds  of  the  banner,  an 
old  man,  with  a  mild  and  calm  countenance,  rested  on  the 
pommel  of  a  long,  naked  sabre,  like  a  caryatic  image  of  the 
victorious  and  satisfied  people. 

The  butcher's  boy,  knife  in  hand,  crossed  the  empty  space 
between  the  tribune  and  the  steps.  The  deputies  fell  back  in 
horror,  shielding  themselves  from  contact  with  his  bloody  gar- 
ments. They  formed  a  denser  group  on  the  upper  benches 
around  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  The  princess,  unintimidated, 
took  notes  with  a  pencil  on  her  knee.  She  was  doubtless 
searching  her  heart  for  words  that  would  best  save  her  son. 
No  gesture  or  cry  of  tL")  invaders  sought  to  impose  their  will 
upon  the  national  representatives.  They  seemed  to  come  as 
spectators,  rather  than  masters,  of  the  lot  which  the  assembly 
should  mete  out  to  them.  Everything  seemed  suspended  and 
petrified  in.  general  expectation. 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  107 


XVIII. 


The  rumor  spread  tl  .rough  the  journalists'  tribune,  that  the 
revolution  had  been  betrayed ;  that  men,  brought  forward  and 
excited  by  the  partisans  ojf  the  regency  to  mislead  or  baffle  its 
dhwivement,  had  mingled  with  the  victors  of  the  Tuileries  on 
their  entrance  into  the  hall.  This  rumor' appeared  to  be  well 
founded.  A  republican,  astonished  at  the  apathy  of  the  first 
groups  introduced  into  the  Chamber,  M.  Marrast,  sprang  from 
the  journalists'  tribune,  where  he  had  been  noting  the  steps  of 
the  revolution  ;  "  These  are  the  false  people,"  cried  he,  passing 
through  the  lobby  —  "  I  go  to  summon  the  true." 

While  a  new  wave  of  popular  invasion  was  announced 
without,  within  the  silence  and  indecision  continued.  M. 
Ledru  Rollin,  standing  at  the  foot  of  the  tribune  on  the  left, 
strove  to  ascend  the  steps. 

Almost  the  only  republican  in  the  assembly  during  many- 
years  of  his  membership,  the  inspirer  of  the  republican  press, 
the  orator  of  the  democratic  banquets,  the  declared  enemy  of 
the  arrangements  and  the  reservations  of  the  halfway  agita- 
tions of  the  dynastic  left ;  pushing  opposition,  in  the  Chamber, 
to  that  point  where  faction  commences ;  out  of  the  Chamber, 
to  the  limits  where  it  becomes  sedition ;  M.  Ledru  Rollin,  wdth 
a  youthful,  large  and  sanguine  head,  fiery  in  voice  and  gesture, 
but  preserving  the  studied  coolness  of  the  politician  under  the 
apparent  impulse  of  the  orator,  seemed  to  be  a  man  fitted  for  the 
crisis,  and  looked  for  by  it.  His  words,  strongly  impressed  by  a 
study  of  the  form  of  plebeian  eloquence,  had  a  little  of  the  post- 
humous tone  of  the  Convention.  His  discourse  savored  of  the 
lamp  of  Danton.  It  was  seen  his  rich  and  versatile  imagina- 
tion often  turned  to  the  past  as  a  model  for  the  future,  and 
that  he  regretted  the  loss  of  opportunities  for  strife,  glory,  and 
historic  death,  in  the  past  drama  of  the  great  revolution. 

Isolated  at  the  extremity  of  the  chamber  in  premature  repub- 
licanism, M.  Ledru  Rollin  was  only  distinguished  by  his  talent. 
His  colleagues,  up  to  this  day,  had  listened  to  him  with  more 
curiosity  than  terror.  In  their  eyes  he  was  only  a  revolution- 
ary phantom  ;  in  their  ears,  only  an  echo  of  a  period  forever 
silent  and  buried.  Suddenly  the  parts  were  changed.  It  was 
now  his  colleagues  who  fled  to  the  past  —  the  impossible  had 
become  the  actual. 

•'  In  the  name  of  the  peoj)le,  everywhere  in  arms,"  said  he, 
with  the  gesture  of  a  leader,  )ointing  to  the  troops  behind  him, 


108  HISTORY   OF   THE 

"  in  the  name  of  the  people,  masters  of  Paris,  whatever  may 
be  done,  I  come  ;o  protest  against  the  species  of  government 
which  has  just  been  proposed  at  this  tribune.  I  do  not,  like 
you,  perform  a  new  act ;  for,  in  1842,  on  the  discussion  of  the 
regency  law,  alone  within  this  hall  I  declared  that  this  law  could 
not  be  passed  without  an  appeal  to  the  people.  For  two  days 
we  have  been  fighting  for  our  rights.  Well,  if  you  resist,  if 
you  pretend  that  a  government  by  acclamation,  that  an  ephem- 
eral revolutionary  government  exists,  we  will  fight  on  in  the 
name  of  the  constitution  of  1791,  which  rests  upon  the  country, 
which  reposes  on  a  history.  There  is  no  regency  possible 
under  an  usurping  form  !  I  protest,  in  the  name  of  the  people, 
against  this  usurpation.  You  speak  of  order,  and  the  effusion 
of  blood  !  Ah !  the  efTusion  comes  home  to  us,  for  we  have 
seen  it  near  enough  to  our  persons.  Three  thousand  men  are 
killed  ! " 

At  these  words  the  butcher's  boy  sprang  to  the  steps  which 
led  to  the  Duchess  of  Orleans'  seat,  doubtless  to  avenge  his 
brethren.  "  We  must  make  an  end  of  them,"  he  muttered 
between  his  teeth. 

M.  de  Mornay,  the  son-Pn-law  of  Marshal  Soult,  a  member 
of  the  opposition,  but  generous  and  brave,  held  back  the  butch- 
er's boy  by  his  clothes.  The  deputies  barred  his  way,  and 
repulsed  him  with  a  burst  of  indignation.  The  fellow  was 
removed.  M.  Ledru  Rollin  resumed  his  speech,  and  even  de- 
veloped and  prolonged  the  argument  too  much.  Feelings  are 
impatient  as  moments.  "  Press  the  question,  then,"  M.  Berryer 
called  out  to  him,  "  and  conclude  upon  a  provisional  govern- 
ment." 

The  legitimate  royalty  and  the  republic  came  to  an  under- 
standing without  concert  to  suppress  a  government  of  acclama- 
tion and  surprise,  which  interposed  between  their  hopes  and 
the  denouement. 

M.  Ledru  Rollin  continued ;  he  cited  the  abdications  of  Na- 
poleon and  of  Charles  X.  Both  deceived.  The  assembly  grew 
cold  —  the  time  was  lost.  "  Make  an  end,"  repeated  M.  Ber- 
ryer ;  "  we  know  history."  M.  Ledru  Rollin  finally  ended  by 
demanding  the  nomination  of  a  provisional  government  by  the 
people,  and  a  convention. 

XIX. 

The  steps  of  both  sides  of  the  tribune  were  besieged  by  Na- 
tional Guards  young  men  of  the  schools,  combatants,  and  ora* 


REVOLUTION    OF    1348.  109 

tors.  "Laniartine  !  Lamartine!"  cried  the  people,  and  a  part 
of  the  assembly.  Deputies  from  all  the  benches  of  the  Cham- 
ber pressed  round  Lamartine  ;  others  made  significant  signs  to 
him,  pointing  out  the  tribune,  some  with  the  expectation  of 
seeing  him  ascend  it  to  complete  the  revolution,  others  to  mod- 
erate and  regulate  by  joining  it. 

Lamartine,  motionless  and  silent  from  the  commencement 
of  the  session,  trembled  at  the  thought  of  speaking.  He  felt 
that  a  word  would  draw  the  undecided  revolution  to  a  republic 
fraught  with  problems,  or  a  regency  full  of  anarchy.  A  third 
element  of  irresolution  gave  hesitation,  not  to  his  convictions, 
but  to  his  heart.  —  That  was  pity. 

Frequently  solicited  to  appear  at  the  court  of  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans,  who  was  fond  of  letters,  he  had  severely  denied  him- 
self all  relations  with  this  princess,  lest  gratitude  should  one  day 
involve  his  political  liberty.  But  he  admired,  from  a  distance, 
the  widow  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  a  stranger  and  exile,  denied 
her  proper  position  as  a  mother  by  a  jealous  and  cruel  law. 
Aloi\e  in  the  Tuileries,  between  a  tomb  and  a  throne,  she  had 
nothing  of  happiness  but  mourning,  nothing  of  royalty  but  the 
prospect,  or  of  maternity  but  its  cares.  She  might  be  pro- 
nounced equal  in  all  things  to  her  destiny,  by  her  genius,  her 
soul  and  her  tears.  Her  countenance  revealed  all  these  mys- 
teries. Her  beauty  contained  her  thoughts.  The  heart  of 
Lamartine  must  have  been  a  hundred  times  tempted  to  devote 
himself  to  this  living  poetry,  and  to  cause  the  restoration  of  a 
sovereignty  of  which  the  iniquity  of  the  law  had  deprived  her. 
Was  she  not  a  queen  in  imagination  ?  The  moment  had  come 
for  the  realization  of  this  dream.  To  accomplish  it  nothing  was 
to  be  done  but  throw  intc  the  tribune  the  cry  with  which  every 
heart  was  filled.  The  gestures  and  voices  which  impelled  him 
thither  made  Lamartine  the  arbiter  of  fortune.  The  somewhat 
severe  austerity,  which  he  had  till  that  moment  shown,  gave  an 
irresistible  authority  to  his  decision.  The  presence  of  the 
duchess,  her  paleness,  her  suppliant  look,  the  children  pressod 
to  her  heart,  were  half  of  the  eloquence  necessary  to  subdue  an 
assembly  of  feeling  men.  Never  had  an  orator  before  hiir. 
such  clients.  They  recalled  those  trains  of  dethroned  women 
and  children  which  the  orators  displayed  before  the  Eoman 
people  to  move  their  hearts.  The  French  pecple  are  much 
more  easily  melted  to  tears. 
10# 


110  HISTORY   OF   THE 

t 

XX. 

Lamar  Tne  had  but  to  say  to  the  princess  and  her  sons : 
"  Arise  !  You  are  the  widow  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  whose 
death  anl  memory  the  people  have  crowned  in  you  !  You  are 
children  bereft  of  their  father,  and  adopted  by  the  nation ! 
You  are  the  innocent  victims  of  the  faults  of  the  throne,  the 
guests  and  suitors  of  the  people  !  You  take  shelter  from  the 
throne  in  a  revolution  !  This  revolution  is  just,  it  is  generous, 
it  is  French  !  It  does  not  war  with  women  and  children.  It 
does  not  grasp  the  inheritance  of  widows  and  orphans.  It 
does  not  plunder  its  prisoners  and  guests.  Go  and  reign  !  It 
restores  you  from  compassion  to  the  throne  which  was  lost  by 
the  faults  of  which  you  are  only  the  victims.  The  ministers 
of  your  grandfather  have  injured  your  inheritance  —  the  people 
restore  it.  They  adopted,  they  will  fill  for  you  the  room  of 
your  grandfather.  You  had  but  a  prince  for  your  guardian  — 
you  shall  have  a  mother  and  a  nation  !  " 

XXI. 

The  Chamber  would  have  risen  en  masse  at  these  words, 
inspired  by  the  sight,  the  tears,  the  faltering  words  of  the 
duchess,  by  the  child  lifted  in  its  mother's  arms  and  borne  to 
the  tribune.  Lamartine  would  have  carried  the  assembly  and 
the  National  Guards  present  at  the  palace,  in  the  suite  of  the 
princess,  to  the  platform  of  the  peristyle.  Thence  he  would 
have  shown  the  widow  and  the  child  to  the  wavering  people 
and  the  faithful  troops.  The  acclaim  would  have  been  sure. 
The  procession,  swelled  in  its  march  by  National  Guards  and 
the  populace,  would  have  carried  back  the  duchess  and  her 
children  to  the  Tuileries.  He  would  proclaim  the  regency. 
What  an  ending  !  What  a  drama  !  What  a  denouement ! 
What  a  triumph  of  the  heart  over  the  reason  I  of  nature 
over  policy ! 

XXII. 

Lamartine  had  these  words  upon  his  lips,  these  gestures  in 
his  hands,  this  act  in  his  imagination,  these  tears  in  his  eyes. 
He  did  not  yield  to  the  noble  temptations  of  the  man  of  imagi- 
nation. He  plucked  his  heart  from  his  breast ;  he  controlled 
it  by  his  grasf ,  that  he  might  listen  only  to  his  reason.     This 


i),i 


\ 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  Ill 

recall  3d  to  him  yet  more  forcibly  what  he  had  said  two  hours 
before  in  the  republican  council. 

A  regency,  in  the  midst  of  a  crisis  which  had  raised  the  ( 
people,  drawn  in  the  National  Guard,  dissolved  the  army, 
overturned  the  throne,  expelled  the  king,  incited  universal  suf- 
frage, suspended  work,  and  thrown  two  hundred  thousand 
workmen,  hungering  for  their  rights  and  their  bread,  into  the 
street,  was  not  peace  :  it  was  a  short  and  tempestuous  truce.       / 

The  sanguinary  revolution  was  not  finished;  —  it  would 
recommence,  terrible,  convulsive  and  insatiable,  with  this  feeble 
government  of  sentiment  and  surprise.  Lamartine  would  have 
saved  the  present,  lost  the  future  ;  and  relieved  his  feelings,  but 
ruined  his  country.  He  did  not  believe  he  had  the  right  to 
satisfy  his  heart  at  the  expense  of  his  country,  and  to  destroy 
thousands  of  lives  for  the  sake  of  playing  a  fine  part  for  a 
moment  in  the  eflfeminate  drama  of  sentimental  politics.  It 
would  have  been  easy,  it  would  have  been  sweet,  for  him  to 
have  dropped  from  the  tribune  the  tear  which  had  gathered  in 
his  eyes,  as  in  the  eyes  of  all.  But  this  tear  would  have 
become  a  torrent  of  the  blood  of  citizens.  He  restrained.  It 
was  one  of  those  heart-agonies  which  cost  nature  the  severest 
struggle.  It  was  not  a  fault  of  conscience  he  would  ever 
repent.  He  would  have  destroyed,  not  only  the  republic,  but 
the  very  victims  of  the  catastrophe  to  which  he  would  have 
doomed,  by  crowning  them, 

XXIII. 

At  last  he  ascended,  or,  rather,  was  carried  into  the  tribune. 
A  profound  silence  was  established  as  soon  as  the  orator's 
name  was  announced  to  the  people.  He  dared  not  raise  his 
eyes  to  the  princess,  for  fear  he  should  falter  in  his  speech,  or 
prove  false  to  his  painful  resolution. 

With  a  voice  deep  as  the  abyss  of  the  destiny  he  was  about 
to  fathom,  "  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  I  feel,  as  deeply  as  any 
one  among  you,  the  twofold  sentiment  which  has  just  moved 
every  one  within  these  halls,  at  beholding  the  most  touching 
sight  that  human  annals  can  present,  that  of  a  princess,  august 
in  her  misfortune,  shielding  herself  by  the  innocence  of  her 
child,  and  coming  from  the  heart  of  an  invaded  and  abandoned 
palace,  to  throw  herself  into  the  bosom  of  the  asylum  of  popular 
representation." 

At  these   words,  some  anticipated  an  invocation  to  pity, 


112  HISTORY    OF   THE 

Others  a  weakness  of  patriotism ;  and  a  murmui  o^.  applause 
from  the  centres,  and  discontent  from  the  people;  rose  and 
mingled  in  a  slight  rumor.  Lamartine  perceived  it,  and  bend- 
ing on  the  centres  and  the  people  a  look  in  which  his  thoughts 
were  still  unread,  "  I  demand,"  said  he,  "  that  I  may  be  per- 
mitted to  finish  my  phrase,  and  I  beg  you  will  wait  for  that 
which  follows." 

The  silence  and  anxiety  were  redoubled.  "  I  said,  gentle- 
men, that  I  had  shared  with  you  the  feeling  which  had  just 
agitated  this  interior;  and  here  I  make  no  distinction  between  the 
national  representation  present  in  ourselves,  and  the  representa- 
tion of  the  people  of  Paris,  mingled  with  us  on  these  benches. 
This  is  a  moment  of  equality,  and  this  equality  will,  I  am 
sure,  only  serve  to  make  the  people  voluntarily  recognize,  in  us, 
the  right  of  reestablishing  concord  and  public  peace  !  "  {Yes! 
yes  !  exclaimed  the  groups  of  combatants  standing  at  the  right 
of  the  orator,  at  the  foot  of  the  tribune.) 

"  But,  gentlemen,"  continued  the  orator,  "  if  I  share  the 
emotion  inspired  by  the  touching  spectacle  of  the  greatest 
human  catastrophes  ;  if  I  share  the  respect  with  which  misfor- 
tune also  fills  us,  whatever  may  be  our  political  opinions;  I  do 
not  share,  with  less  enthusiasm,  the  respect  due  to  a  people 
fighting  for  three  days  for  the  overthrow  of  a  retrograde  govern- 
ment, and  for  the  reestablishment,  on  a  basis  henceforth  immuta- 
ble, of  the  empire  of  order  and  the  empire  of  liberty  ;  and,  for 
this  reason,  I  am  not  deceived  by  the  illusion  recently  mani- 
fested in  this  tribune.  I  do  not  imagine  that  a  momentary 
acclamation,  extorted  by  an  honorable  emotion  from  an  assem- 
bly softened  by  a  natural  feeling,  can  found  a  solid  and  incon- 
testable government  for  thirty-six  millions  of  men.  I  know 
that  what  one  acclamation  can  raise  up,  another  acclamation 
can  sweep  away.  I  know  that,  whatever  may  be  the  nature  of 
the  government,  it  concerns  the  wisdom  and  interests  of  the 
country  to  apply  ourselves  to  secure  an  issue  from  the  crisis  in 
which  we  are  placed ;  that  it  is  important  for  the  whole  people, 
for  those  especially  who  have  shed  some  drops  of  their  blood 
in  this  struggle,  it  is  important  for  them  to  have  cemented 
with  this  blood,  not  an  epliemeral  government,  but  a  stable, 
national,  popular,  in  fine,  an  invulnerable  establishment." 

"  Yes  !  yes  !  "  shouted  the  combatants,  waving  their  flags, 
brandishing  their  arms,  and  showing  the  blood  and  powder- 
marks  upon  their  hands. 

"  Well,"  resumed  Lamartine,  with  s  firmer  energy  of  leflec- 


REVOLUTION    OF    lS-18.  113 

tion  in  his  tone,  "  how  shall  we  reach  it  ?  How  shall  we  find 
a  government  in  the  midst  of  the  flc  ating  elements  of  this  wreck, 
in  this  tenrpest  which  sweeps  us  all  away,  where  a  popular 
wave  swells  every  moment,  even  within  this  enclosure,  the  wave 
which  has  submerged  us  ?  How  shall  we  find  this  invulnera- 
ble base  ?  How,  gentlemen  ?  By  going  to  the  heart  of  thii 
people  and  the  nation.  By  extracting  from  the  national  rights 
this  great  mystery  of  universal  sovereignty,  which  gives  birth 
to  all  order,  all  liberty,  and  all  truth.  Hence,  far  from  having 
recourse  to  these  subterfuges,  these  surprises,  these  momentary 
emotions  and  fictions,  of  which  a  nation,  you  see,  repents 
sooner  or  later,  when  these  fictions  die  away,  —  for  this  reason  I 
sustain  the  double  motion  made,  and  which  I  should  have  been 
the  first  to  propose  from  this  tribune,  the  proposition,  first  of  a 
government  of  necessity,  the  urgency  of  circumstances,  a 
government  which  staunches  the  blood  that  flows,  a  govern- 
ment which  suspends  civil  war  among  citizens." 

XXIV. 

At  these  words,  as  if  Lamartine's  idea  had  been  a  proclama- 
tion of  peace  accepted  by  the  people,  they  clapped  their  hands, 
and,  with  a  gesture  significant  of  the  ratification  of  the  truce, 
the  old  man  with  the  long  beard,  standing  at  the  orator's  feet, 
solemnly  returned  his  sabre  to  its  scabbard. 

Lamartine  resumed :  —  "A  government  that  shall  clear  up 
the  terrible  misunderstanding  which  has  existed  for  some  years 
between  the  different  classes  of  citizens,  and  which,  by  preventing 
us  mLxing  together,  and  recognizing  in  ourselves  one  people, 
prevents  us  from  loving  and  embracing  each  other  in  true  unity. 

"  I  demand,  therefore,  the  instant  establishment  of  the 
right  of  public  peace,  the  right  of  blood  yet  flowing,  the  right  of 
this  people,  exhausted  by  the  glorious  work  it  has  accomplished 
in  three  days.  I  demand  the  institution  of  a  provisional  gov- 
ernment." 

(The  applause  extended  through  the  entire  Chamber,  who 
saw  that  the  situation  of  affairs  offered  no  other  path  of  safety.) 
"  A  government,"  he  continued,  "  which  shall  not  commit  itself, 
through  our  resentment,  our  desires,  or  our  present  anger,  on 
the  nature  of  the  definitive  government  which  it  shall  please 
the  nation  t(  adopt  when  it  shall  have  been  consulted." 

(A  thousand  bravos  burst  forth  at  this  reserve  of  trie  national 
rights.) 


114  HISTORY    OF    THF 

"  That 's  it !  that 's  it ! "  cried  the  people  themselves. 
"  Nominate  !  nominate  !  nominate  the  members  of  the  govern- 
ment." 

"  Wait,"  replied  the  orator.  "  The  first  mission  of  the  gov- 
ernment will  be  to  establish  the  imperative  truce  between  the 
citizens ;  the  second,  to  convoke  the  entire  electoral  country,  — 
and  when  I  say  entire,  I  mean  to  embrace  every  one  who  bears 
in  his  title  of  man,  with  the  capability  of  intelligence  and  will, 
his  title  of  citizenship.  A  last  word.  The  powers  which  have 
succeeded  for  fifty  years " 

XXV. 

The  last  sentence  of  the  orator  was  cut  short  by  a  salvo  of 
fire-arms,  whose  reverberation  shook  the  tribune  and  rolled  along 
the  corridors.  The  people  present  uttered  a  cry  of  joy,  and 
extended  their  hands  to  the  door.  The  representatives  sprang 
to  their  feet.  The  doors  which  separated  the  tribune  from  the 
lobbies  were  beaten  in  by  the  butts  of  muskets  or  the  pressure 
of  the  robust  shoulders  of  a  new  reinforcement  of  assailants. 

This  was  the  vanguard  of  about  three  hundred  men,  who  had 
left  the  Tuileries  after  the  sack  of  the  chateau.  Heated  by 
three  days'  fighting,  some  of  them  intoxicated  by  the  smell  of 
powder  and  the  march,  they  had  just  crossed  the  place  de  la 
Concorde,  under  the  eyes  of  generals  who  had  commanded  their 
bayonets  to  open  before  them.  Having  reached  the  outer  doors 
of  the  assembly,  their  comrades  in  the  interior  introduced  them 
at  a  sign  from  M.  Marrast.  Guided  by  accomplices  acquainted 
with  the  secret  passages  of  the  palace,  they  crowded  together 
in  the  lobbies,  and  rushed  with  cries  of  death  into  the  spectators' 
tribunes.  Their  jackets  torn,  their  shirts  open,  their  arms  bare, 
their  fists  closed  like  masses  of  muscle,  their  hair  bristling  and 
burned  by  cartridges,  their  faces  inflamed  with  the  delirium  of 
revolution,  their  eyes  dazzled  at  the  unwonted  aspect  of  the 
hall  which  they  looked  down  upon  over  thousands  of  heads,  —  all 
denoted  in  them  the  worlanen  of  fire,  who  had  just  given  the 
final  blow  to  the  last  retreat  of  royalty.  They  strode  over  the 
benches,  jostled  and  crushed  the  spectators  in  the  tribunes ; 
they  raised  in  one  hand  their  hats  or  fur  caps,  brandishing  some 
weapon  of  attack  —  pike,  bayonet,  sabre,  musket,  or  iron  bar. 
"Down  with  the  Ivegency  !"  "  Vive  la  RcpuUique!'"  "Out 
with  the  corrupt !  "     The  ceiling  shook  with  these  shouts. 

The  same  irruption  exploded  and  poured  through  the  already 


KEVOLUTIOX    OF    1S43.  115 

cr.oked  up  doors  which  opened  at  the  foot  of  the  trihune.  The 
leader  of  the  column,  Captain  Dunoyer,  waved  above  the  head 
of  the  orators  the  tri-colored  and  gold-fringed  flag,  the  trophy 
of  the  subverted  throne  of  the  Tuileries.  The  terrified  dep- 
uties turned  pale  at  this  testimony  of  popular  victor)'.  "  This 
standard  proves  to  you,"  cried  Captain  Dunoyer,  "  that  here 
there  is  no  other  will  but  ours ;  and  without  there  are  an  hun- 
dred thousand  fighting-men,  who  will  submit  no  longer  to  king 
or  regent."  Many  deputies  glided  from  their  seats,  and,  one 
by  one,  escaped  through  the  different  doors.  "  Room  for  the 
traitors  !  "  "  Shame  on  the  cowards  !  "  shouted  the  people 
from  the  tribunes.  The  Duchess  of  Orleans  remained  almost 
discovered  and  abandoned,  pale  and  trembling  for  her  children. 
The  people  did  not  see  her,  as  she  was  concealed  behind  a 
screen  of  deputies. 

XXVI. 

Lamartine  was  still  standing  in  the  tribune,  which  new  assail- 
ants constantly  disputed  with  him.  The  president,  Sauzet,  put 
on  his  hat,  as  a  signal  of  distress,  and  the  -vdolation  of  the 
assembly :  a  tardy  signal.  At  this  sign,  the  irritated  people 
threatened  the  president  by  word  and  gesture.  A  man  sprang 
to  him  and  took  off  his  hat,  to  save  his  life  by  this  forced  token 
of  respect  for  victor}^ 

At  this  moment  a  sinister  rumor  of  deep  contention  at- 
tracted all  eyes  to  one  of  the  tribunes  on  the  right.  A  group 
of  combatants  rushed  thither  as  to  the  breach  of  a  city  taken  by 
storm.  Their  arms,  their  gestures,  their  impatient  cries,  be- 
trayed the  most  excessive  and  criminal  resolution.  Musket- 
barrels  and  the  steel  of  bayonets  Avere  seen  undulating  in  con- 
trary directions,  like  spears  of  com  tossed  by  opposing  wands. 
"  Where  is  she  ?  where  is  she  ?  "  cried  some  of  the  more  curi- 
ous than  evil-intentioned  combatants,  pointing  to  the  place  in 
the  centre  where  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  and  her  children  were 
still  forgotten  and  buried  up,  as  it  were,  in  a  group  of  deputies 
hardly  dense  enough  to  conceal  her. 

At  these  cries  and  gestures,  the  princess  was  dragged  out  of 
the  hall.  She  fell,  with  her  slender  suite  and  her  children,  into 
the  midst  of  a  tumult  of  assailants  that  deluged  the  outer  corridors 
df  the  tribunes.  She  with  difficulty  escaped  insult,  suffocation 
and  death,  thanks  to  her  sex,  to  her  veil  which  prevented  recog- 
nition, and  the  arms  of  a  few  courageous  deputies,  among  whom 


116  HISTORY    OF    THE 

M.  de  Momay  was  still  distinguished.  But  sepan  ted  by  the 
undulation  of  the  groups  from  her  two  children  and  the  Duke 
of  Nemours,  she  succeeded,  with  her  defenders,  in  threading 
the  crowd  of  insurgents  alone,  and  descending  the  staircase 
which  opened  on  the  Salle  des  Pas  Perdus. 

There  fresh  waves  of  the  people  surrounded  and  submerged 
her,  bearing  her  from  one  wall  to  the  other,  like  a  wreck  in  a  tem- 
pest. They  finally  threw  her,  half  stifled  and  almost  fainting, 
against  a  glass  door,  whose  panes  gave  way  before  the  frail  body 
of  a  woman.  Coming  to  herself,  she  missed  her  children.  She 
called  them  ;  they  were  promised  to  her,  and  a  search  was  made 
for  them  under  the  feet  of  the  crowd.  During  this  time  a  few 
friends  succeeded  in  forming  a  group  around  the  princess. 
They  opened  one  of  the  glazed  doors  on  a  level  with  the  gar- 
den belonging  to  the  presidency  of  the  Chamber,  and  carried 
her  safely  through  this  garden  to  the  president's  palace,  there 
to  await  her  fate  and  receive  her  children. 

The  Count  of  Paris,  torn  by  the  tumult  from  his  mother,  and 
pointed  out  to  the  people  as  the  future  king,  had  been  brutally 
throttled  by  a  man  of  colossal  stature.  The  enomnous  bony 
hand  of  this  fanatic  nearly  choked  the  poor  child,  as,  in  brutal 
sport,  he  made  believe  strangle  him.  A  National  Guard,  who 
was  looking  for  the  boy,  and  witnessed  this  disgusting  profana- 
tion, beat  up  the  arm  of  this  soulless  man  by  a  blow  vigor- 
ously dealt,  tore  the  young  prince  away  from  him,  and  carried 
him,  trembling  and  soiled,  in  the  direction  of  his  mother,  who 
burst  into  tears  as  she  embraced  him. 

But  the  mother  missed  her  other  child,  the  little  Duke  of 
Chartres.  She  called  him  with  loud  cries,  and  pressed  against 
the  glasses  of  the  garden  to  see  him  bi'ought  from  a  distance. 
The  child  had  fallen  under  the  tumultuous  mass  of  people  on 
the  way  from  the  tribune  to  the  corridors.  He  was  trodden 
under  the  feet  of  the  multitude,  whose  clamors  did  not  even 
allow  them  to  hear  his  stifled  cries.  He  was  lost  for  a  mo- 
ment. 

The  Duke  of  Nemours,  also  separated  from  the  princess  by 
the  crowd,  had  succeeded  in  getting,  through  it  without  insult. 
He  had  taken  refuge  in  an  office  belonging  to  the  Chamber. 
He  was  furnished  with  clothes  to  enable  him  to  disguise  hxnx- 
self  and  get  away  without  being  recognized. 


REVOLUTION    OP    1848.  117 

xxvai. 

Other  men  had  just  entered  the  passages.  They  were  talk- 
intr,  and  waving  in  their  hands  helmets,  fur  caps,  and  sabres, 
still  reeking  with  the  blood  of  the  Municipal  Guards  killed  in 
the  place  de  la  Concorde.  Some  were  armed  with  muskets. 
One  of  them,  a  working-man  in  a  vest,  with  sleeves  blackened 
by  toil,  \vith  a  wild  countenance,  and  the  rough  and  convulsive 
movements  of  a  maniac,  perched  himself  on  the  outside  of  the 
same  tribune  from  which  the  threats  against  the  princess  had 
been  uttered.  He  took  aim  at  the  president.  A  thousand 
voices  were  raised  to  give  ]\I.  Sauzet  warning.  M.  Sauzet  did 
not  turn  pale,  but  at  la^t  left  his  chair,  to  avoid  giving  an  excuse 
for  crime,  precipitately  descended  the  steps,  and  left  the  hall. 

At  the  same  instant,  the  young  laborer,  not  seeing  the  pres- 
ident in  his  chair,  but  seeing  Lamartine  alone  in  a  black  dress 
in  the  centre  of  the  tribune,  in  the  midst  of  arms  and  standards, 
thought  he  was  another  president,  or  an  orator  opposed  to  the 
people.  He  slowly  took  aim  at  him,  hke  a  hunter  who  fires  at 
his  leisure.  Captain  Dunoyer,  who  was  on  INI.  de  Lamanine's 
left,  tried  to  cover  him  with  his  body,  and  called  out  to  him,  — 
"Shelter  yourself;  you  are  fired  upon."  —  "I  see  the  musket 
levelled  at  my  breast","  replied  Lamartine,  smiling,  "  but  his  aim 
is  bad ;  he  will  not  hit  me.  Besides,  what  if  I  am  killed  ?  If 
I  die  in  the  tribune  at  this  moment,  I  die  at  my  post." 

On  all  sides  arms  were  Hfted  towards  the  gallery  of  the  second 
story,  whence  musket-barrels  were  levelled.  "  Don't  fire,  —  it  is 
Lamartine,"  cried  the  people  below  to  those  above.  The  armed 
man  heard  nothing.  Du  Villard,  a  sergeant  of  the  National 
Guard,  rushed  upon  him  and  threw  up  his  piece.  Other  brave 
combatants  disarmed  him.  They  dragged  him,  in  spite  of  his 
cries  of  rage,  out  of  the  hall  where  he  would  have  stained  the 
tribune  with  blood  and  dishonored  the  revolution. 

xxvin. 

Almost  all  the  deputies  of  the  centres  had  retired  after  the 
departure  of  the  president,  the  flight  of  the  duchess,  and  the 
scene  of  the  fire-anns.  A  certain  number  of  intrepid  men, — 
among  whom  was  remarked  M.  de  Lascases,  w^hose  feeble  body- 
held  a  gallant  heart,  —  members  of  the  opposition,  rem.ained  in 
their  sea'  s,  mixed  with  the  people  and  the  National  Guardsmen, 
who  had  'ntruded  on  them.  The  tribune  itself  was  besieged 
and  abandoned  in  turn,  by  orators  who  did  not  belong  to  the 
11 


118  HISTORY   OF   THE 

Chamber.  They  came  to  make  gestures  significant  of  battle, 
victory,  and  command,  and  to  shout  forth  a  few  motions  proposed 
amid  an  uproar  of  voices. 

Lamartine  remained  firm  in  the  tribune,  not  yielding  to  an- 
archical motions,  only  standing  aside  and  waiting  till  the  dis- 
order should  be  exhausted  by  its  own  excess.  On  all  sides  the 
deputies  and  people  made  him  significant  signs,  to  retain  him 
in  the  breach,  and  to  conjure  him  not  to  leave  it  without  having 
proclaimed  a  government.  "  Take  the  chair  !  take  the  chair  ! 
let  Lamartine  preside  over  us  ! "  cried  a  thousand  voices.  He 
declined  ;  he  knew  that  the  chair  was  too  far  from  the  people, 
and  that  they  required  at  that  moment  a  counsellor  who  could 
be  heard  in  close  proximity,  and  not  a  silent  president.  "  Go," 
said  he  to  some  active,  intelligent,  and  intrepid  young  men, 
who  pressed  about  him  to  communicate  his  suggestions  to  the 
crowd,  "  go  and  seek  that  old  man  upon  his  bench ;  it  is  Dupont 
de  VEure.  His  is  the  most  impressive  name  in  liberal  and 
republican  France  ;  he  is  the  director  of  public  esteem ;  there 
is  no  power  at  this  moment  but  respect.  This  brave  old  man 
will  possess  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  the  inviolability  of  venera- 
tion. His  name  will  give  the  stamp  of  moral  authority  and 
virtue  to  the  measures  we  are  about  to  attempt  for  the  reestab- 
lishment  of  order.  If  his  modesty  refuse,  do  violence  to  his 
white  hairs,  and  carry  him,  in  spite  of  himself,  to  the  chair. 
He  is  the  man  we  need,  —  Providence  has  saved  him  for  this 
day." 

The  young  men  obeyed  ;  they  carried  Dupont  de  L'Eure  to 
the  chair.  At  sight  of  him,  all  heads  were  uncovered.  Hands 
applauded  ;  countenances  brightened  up  :  the  revolution  had  a 
moderator  ;  the  people  a  conscience  in  its  insurrection  ;  the  tri- 
bune a  voice  worthy  of  pronouncing  its  will. 

XXIX. 

Lamartine  rose  on  tiptoe,  and  said  in  a  low  tone  to  Dupont 
de  L'Eure,  "  Hasten  to  proclaim  the  names  of  the  members  of 
the  provisional  government,  which  the  acclamation  of  the  depu- 
ties and  the  people  will  designate.  Embrace  the  occasion,  ere 
we  lose  it."  Dupont  de  L'Eure  bowed  to  Lamartine,  in  token 
of  assent. 

Confused  voices  demanded  with  loud  cries  the  nomination  of 
the  provisional  government.  Lamartine  received  many  lists  of 
names  hastily  drawn  up  by  young  men,  who  wrote  them  on 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S48.  119 

their  knees.  Lamartine  threw  a  rapid  glance  over  them,  tear- 
ing up  some  and  pruning  others.  Those  nearest  the  tribune 
cried  out,  "  Name  them — name  them  ! "  "  Proclaim  them  your- 
self ! "  cried  the  most  vehement.  Lamartine  resisted  ;  he  did 
not  wish  to  discredit  prematurely  the  popular  choice,  by  im- 
pressing on  the  designated  name  the  arbitrary  authority  of  one 
man's  selection.  He  limited  himself  by  whispering  to  the  elec- 
tors the  names  which  most  naturally  occurred  to  his  mind,  and 
which  seemed  to  him  most  fitted  for  the  work  of  casting:  the 
people  m  a  new  common  mould  of  power  and  order. 

After  protracted  efforts  on  the  part  of  MM.  Cremieux,  Carnot, 
and  Dumoulin,  to  procure  silence,  Dupont  de  L'Eure  proclaimed 
the  names  of  the  members  of  the  provisional  goveniment.  They 
were  MM.  Dupont  de  L'Eure,  Lamartine,  Arago,  Marie,  Gar- 
nier  Pages,  Ledru  RoUin,  and  Cremieux.  The  proclamation  of 
each  of  these  names  was  ratified  by  a  salvo  of  applause.  All 
shades  of  popular  opinion  here  found  a  representation.  It  was 
the  imperative  truce  suddenly  personified  in  diversities  of  na- 
ture, origin  and  opinion  ;  provisional  unity  of  action  in  the  past 
and  future  variety  of  tendencies ;  a  government  of  fact,  in 
anticipation  and  preparation  of  a  government  of  right ;  the  ex- 
plosion of  a  revolution  before  time  had  separated  and  chilled  its 
contrary  elements. 

The  instinct  of  the  people  felt  its  acclamations  presaged  wis- 
dom and  strength  under  this  apparent  confusion  of  persons. 
Dupont  de  L'Eure  expressed  public  virtue  ;  Lamartine,  the  fra- 
ternity of  classes  in  democracy ;  Arago,  the  glory  of  intellect ; 
Gamier  Pages,  hereditary  esteem,  and  the  gratitude  of  a  nation 
for  a  tomb ;  Marie,  austerity  in  moderation  ;  Ledru  RoUin,  the 
fire,  abandonment,  and  perhaps  excess,  of  the  republic  ;  Cre- 
mieux, words  of  general  value,  and  liberty  of  conscience  per- 
sonified in  the  government. 

XXX. 

Hardly  had  these  names  been  proclaimed  when  objections 
began  to  be  raised  among  the  crowd.  This  one  was  criticized ; 
that  one  was  feared  ;  they  wanted  to  increase  or  retrench  the 
names  on  the  list.  Three  or  four  voices  pronounced  that  of 
M.  Louis  Blanc.  Some  hands  wrote  it ;  Lamartine  passed  it 
over  in  silence ;  he  knew  the  powerful  popularity  of  this  young 
writer,  and  appreciated  his  talents,  but  he  distrusted  the  spirit 
of  system  in  a  government  of  pacification  and  concord.     Abso- 


120  HISTORY   OF   THE 

lute  ideas,  when  true,  render  governments  impracticable,  and 
when  false,  overthrow  them.  Lamartine  would  not  have  the 
republic  fail  in  an  Utopia  ;  he  felt  that  if  the  discussion  yt'ere 
prolonged,  the  exactions  of  the  multitude  would  increase  at 
each  new  name  uttered  in  the  crowd,  and  that  the  provisional 
government  would  be  decomposed  before  its  formation. 

He  hastily  descended  from  the  tribune,  and  plunged  into  the 
mass  of  combatants,  National  Guards  and  people,  who  ob- 
structed the  hall.  They  wished  to  lead  him  to  the  palace  of 
the  President  of  the  Chamber,  there  to  instal  the  new  govern- 
ment.    "  No,  no,"  said  he ;  "  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville !" 

"  To  the  Hotel  de  Ville  !"  repeated  the  crowd.  The  billowy 
mass  of  people,  that  inundated  the  halls  and  corridors,  was  with 
difficulty  borne  back.  The  gateway  opening  on  the  quay  was 
reached. 

Lamartine  had  instinctively  felt  that  if  the  provisional  gov- 
ernment was  installed  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  or  the 
Ministry  of  the  Interior,  this  government  might  be  attacked 
and  annulled  before  night.  The  civil  war  extinguished  by  the 
proclamation  of  this  government  would  be  rekindled  in  the 
evening,  between  two  opposing  governments.  The  Hotel  de 
Ville  —  the  quarter  of  the  revolution  —  the  people's  palace  — 
the  Mount  Aventine  of  seditions,  was  occupied  by  innumerable 
columns  of  the  people,  of  the  surrounding  sections  and  the 
armed  faubourgs.  These  masses,  directed  by  the  most  enter- 
prising and  intrepid  men,  would  not  fail,  when  they  learned  the 
defeat  of  kings,  the  flight  of  the  regency,  and  the  triumph  of 
the  revolution,  to  appoint  a  government  by  themselves.  The 
anarchy  and  bloody  tyranny  of  the  communes  of  Paris,  during 
the  first  republic,  must  naturally  present  themselves  to  the  mind 
of  Lamartine.  He  saw  them  at  once  in  all  their  horror,  in- 
creased yet  more  by  the  elements  of  social  war  which  the  hol- 
low doctrines  of  socialism,  communism,  and  expropriation, 
fermented,  and  would  cause  to  explode  in  these  masses  of  work- 
ing men,  in  want  of  bread,  but  not  of  steel.  To  allow  one  hour 
for  the  proclamation  of  a  municipal  and  socialist  government 
at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  would  be  to  suffer  the  organization  of 
servile  war  in  the  midst  of  political  warfare.  It  would  be  to 
open  the  veins  of  France  to  seas  of  blood.  Gamier  Pages,  a 
man  who  has  all  the  enlightenment  of  the  heart,  had  felt  like 
Lamartine,  without  having  communicated  with  him.  He  had 
hastened  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  to  assume  by  right  of  his  pre- 
vision the  post  of  Mayor  of  Paris. 


REVOLUTION   OF    1S49.  121 

His  name  was  a  magistracy  in  these  sections.  He  recalled 
to  the  people  a  twofold  popularity  united  in  one  man. 

Gamier  Pagos  was  the  brother  of  a  young  republican  dep- 
uty, the  first  of  this  name,  cut  down  in  the  flower  of  his  man- 
hood by  a  recent  death.  This  orator,  whose  reputation  was 
increased  by  every  speech  he  delivered,  was  in  the  tribune 
what  Carrel  was  in  the  press,  a  movement  towards  the  future. 
His  brother  had  inherited  his  popularity  and  his  principles, 
rendered  more  moderate  in  him  by  a  more  cordial  and  grace- 
ful character.  His  deep  studies  on  questions  of  economy  and 
finance,  his  speech,  which  sprang  from  his  heart  to  his  lips, 
his  laborious  probity,  which  had  long  and  honorably  struggled 
with  fortune  before  winning  it,  his  sympathizing  voice,  his 
countenance  radiant  with  serenity  in  the  midst  of  ardor,  and 
his  gesture,  which  disclosed  his  soul  to  the  eye,  rendered  Gar- 
nier  Pages  powerful  through  the  greatest  power  that  affects 
the  masses,  goodness.  His  visible  goodness  detracted  nothing 
from  the  strength  of  Gamier  Pages:  Intrepidity  was  an  addi- 
tional simplicity  of  his  nature,  He  had  no  need  of  efforts  at 
self-devotion ;  his  was  the  intrepidity  of  a  child. 

Dupont  de  I'Eure,  Arago,  Cremieux,  and  Lamartine,  suc- 
ceeded in  meeting  at  the  gate  of  the  palace.  While  they 
were  waiting,  in  the  midst  of  the  acclamations  of  the  populace 
outside,  for  their  colleagues,  who  were  wandering  in  the  halls, 
the  deserted  tribune,  left  behind  them,  served  already  as  a 
division  to  the  combatants  who  had  remained  within.  "  No 
more  civil  lists  !  "  said  a  pauper.  "  No  more  royalty  !  "  said 
an  old  man,  proud  of  the  remembrance  of  having  lived  with- 
out a  king  in  his  youth,  during  the  fantastic  days  of  liberty. 
"  Let  us  tear  down  the  canvass  where  royalty  yet  reigns  in 
effigy !  "  cried  the  men  of  the  new  creed. 

They  had  already  sprung  upon  the  platform  where  the  pres- 
ident's chair  stood,  to  cut  up  the  picture  of  the  coronation  of 
1830,  when  a  laborer,  armed  with  a  double-barreled  gun,  called 
out,  "Wait!  I  will  do  justice  on  kings."  At  the  same  mo- 
ment he  fired  two  shots  into  the  canvass.  These  regicide 
balls  in  effigy  pierced  the  cordon  rouge  which  decorated  the 
king's  breast.  The  destruction  and  mutilation  commenced. 
A  young  man,  named  Theodore  Six,  himself  a  workman,  as- 
cended the  tribune.  "  Respect  to  monuments  1 .  Inviolability 
to  national  property  !  Decency  and  order  in  victory  !  "  he  ex- 
claimed. 

The  muhitude  applauded.     The  people  of  Paris,  lavish  of 
11* 


122  HISTORY   OF   THE    REVOLUTION   OF    1848. 

their  blood,  are  sparing  of  d.evastation,  and  superstitious  in 
respect  to  art.  Works  of  intellect  inspire  them  with  respect, 
as  they  did  the  Athenians,  They  seem  to  know  that  intellect 
is  royalty  in  the  eye  of  history  and  time.  The  hall  was 
evacuated. 

Captain  Dunoyer  and  Colonel  Dumoulin,  who  had  remained 
till  then  in  the  tribune  with  their  standards  to  protect  the  pal- 
ace of  the  national  representatives,  went  to  res\ime,  at  the  side 
of  Lamartine  and  his  colleagues,  the  head  -of  the  column, 
which  set  out  for  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 


BOOK  V. 


I. 

The  people,  with  respect  for  gray  hairs,  had  gone  in  search 
of  a  hackney  cabriolet  drawTi  by  one  horse,  and  had  made  Du- 
pont  de  I'Eure  and  Arago  get  into  it.  Gamier  Pages  was  at  the 
Hotel  de  Ville ;  MM.  Marie  and  Ledru  Rollin  were  kept  back 
and  stifled  by  the  crowd  of  men  undulating  in  the  interior  of 
the  palace  ;  Lamartine  walked  alone  on  foot  at  the  head  of  the 
army  of  the  people,  surrounded  by  a  few  members  of  the  as- 
sembly, who  confided  in  the  fortune  of  the  day ;  eight  or  ten 
National  Guards  rallied  by  their  commander,  and  a  counter- 
current  of  men,  women  and  children,  clapping  their  hands, 
and  uttering  momentarily  cries  of  victory  and  peace. 

M.  Cremieux  soon  came  and  joined  him.  His  column  was 
weak  in  numbers  and  arms.  It  was  composed  in  all  of  about 
six  hundred  men,  of  whom  two  or  three  hundred  were  armed. 
A  company  or  a  squadron,  directed  against  this  confused  and 
disorderly  band,  could  easily  have  dispersed  it,  and  carried 
away  this  government  of  acclamation. 

Lamartine  and  his  colleagues  did  not  disguise  it  from  them- 
selves. They  had  devoted  themselves,  without  looking  be- 
hind them  on  all  the  chances  of  their  devotion.  They  had  no 
right  but  their  own  consciences.  An  arbitrary  and  partial 
ballot,  confined  to  a  small  number  of  insurgents  at  the  foot  of 
an  invaded  tribune,  was  nothing  but  an  usurpation,  powerful 
in  design,  vain  of  authority,  under  a  semblance  of  election. 
Their  title  might  be  contested  in  the  name  of  royalty,  or  it 
might  be  in  the  name  of  the  people.  Behind  them  the  Tuil- 
eries,  before  them  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  —  all  was  illegal.  Their 
invasion  of  the  supreme  power  was  apparently  a  double  crime. 
They  had  nothing  to  reply  to  those  who  might  have  demanded 
their  commission.  They  could  only  point  to  the  city  in  arms, 
the  throne  empty,  the  Chambers  expelled  the  buildings  on  fire, 
the  people  fighting  against  the  people,  the  blood  upon  the  pave- 
ments, and  to  say  :  "  We  assume  the  government  to  suspend 


=y 


124  mSTOKY   OF   THE 

these  disasters,  to  extinguisj  these  flames,  to  stanch  this 
blood,  and  to  save  this  people.  We  assume  it  by  the  right  of  a 
passer-by  who  generously,  though  uncommissioned,  throws 
himself  between  two  men  who  are  cutting  each  other's  throats. 
This  passer-by  has  no  written  authority  in  his  hands,  but  he 
has  a  duty  inscribed  imperishably  in  his  heart;  it  is  that  of 
saving  his  brethren.  His  right  is  ours.  Condemn  us  if  you 
will ;  we  will  not  resist  the  letter  of  your  decree.  We  sub- 
mit knowingly  to  be  the  victims  of  logic,  for  the  sake  of  being 
the  peace-makers  of  this  people." 

11. 

Except  what  had  just  passed  in  the  Tuileries  and  the 
Chamber,  everything  was  unknown.  The  Duchess  of  Orleans 
might  be  at  the  Champs-Elysees,  or  on  the  esplanade  of  the 
Invalides,  surrounded  by  the  princes,  her  brothers-in-law,  at  the 
head  of  one  of  the  divisions  of  the  army.  The  Tuileries  and 
the  Champs-Elysees  were  still  covered  with  regiments.  The 
forts  around  Paris  would  pour  out  munitions,  soldiers  and  ar- 
tillery. Vincennes  was  doubtless  impregnable.  The  king  was 
waiting  (probably)  at  Saint-Cloud  or  at  Versailles,  till  rein- 
forcements summoned  from  the  departments  should  swell  the 
army  of  Paris,  which  remained  entire.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
Seine,  battalions  and  squadrons  were  seen  defiling,  who  looked 
with  pity  on  the  popular  band  marching  in  a  contrary  direc- 
tion on  the  other  bank. 

The  pavements  were  slippery  with  mire  and  blood.  Here 
and  there  carcasses  of  men  and  horses  strewed  the  quay,  and 
compelled  the  head  of  the  column  to  turn  aside. 

They  reach  as  far  as  the  barracks  on  the  quay  d'Or^ay. 
The  dragoons  who  occupied  it  had  closed  the  barred  gateway. 
The  anger  of  the  people  might  rekindle  at  the  sight  of  the 
soldiers,  who  had  been  charging  them  for  three  days.  A 
single  shot  might  be  the  signal  for  a  massacre  like  that  of  the 
Municipal  Guards. 

L?.martine  quickened  his  pace,  and  approached  the  gate  of 
the  '^irracks.  He  halted,  exhausted  by  the  thoughts,  words 
and  actions,  of  the  morning.  He  was  thirsty.  He  feigned 
even  greater  exhaustion  than  he  felt,  and  addressing  the  dra- 
goons crowded  before  the  grating,  "  Soldiers,"  said  he,  "  a 
glass  of  wine." 

This  request,  instantly  repeated  by  the  group  around  him, 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  125 

was  he  rd  by  the  dragoons,  who  brought  a  glass  and  bottle 
and  po' .red  out  some  wine.  Lamartine,  raising  the  glass  in 
his  hand  before  drinking,  smiled,  and  in  allusion  to  the  ban- 
quets which  preceded  and  caused  the  revolution,  cried  :  "My 
friends  !  this  is  the  banquet !  May  the  people  and  the  soldiers 
fraternize  with  me  !  "  and  he  drank. 

At  these  words  and  the  action,  the  dragoons  and  the  people 
shouted  in  unison,  "  Long  live  Lamartine !  Long  live  the 
Provisional  Government !  "  Hands  pressed  hands.  Peace  was 
sealed. 


ra. 

The  column  resumed  its  march,  and  crossed,  the  Seine  by 
the  Pont-Neuf.  At  the  Pont-Royal,  the  citizens  took  M.  Cre- 
mieux,  and  forced  him  to  get  into  a  cabriolet,  which  followed 
that  of  M.  Dupont  de  I'Eure.  Lamartine  continued  to  march 
alone  at  the  head  of  the  column.  There  a  young  woman, 
dressed  as  a  soldier,  and  adorned  with  the  uniform  of  a  Muni- 
cipal Guardsman  who  had  been  slain  and  stripped  at  the  palace 
of  the  Tuileries,  sprang  from  the  midst  of  a  dense  mass  of 
combatants,  sabre  in  hand,  towards  Lamartine,  crying  Vive  la 
Republiqiie!  She  wished  to  embrace  the  orator.  Lamartine 
repulsed  her.  "  Women  do  not  fight,"  said  he  to  the  amazon. 
"  They  are  of  the  party  of  all  the  wounded.  Go  and  raise 
them  up,  and  carry  them,  without  distinction,  to  the  ambu- 
lances." The  young  woman  embraced  one  of  the  National 
Guards,  and  reentered  the  throng  amid  the  bravos  of  the 
people. 

In  the  midst  of  the  quai  de  la  Megisserie,  barricades,  raised 
at  interv-als,  stopped  the  carriages.  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  com- 
pelled to  alight,  advanced,  supported  by  two  combatants.  His 
name  and  age,  respect  and  admiration,  powerfully  served  to 
impress  decorum  on  the  multitude.  The  veneration  they  enter- 
tained for  this  aged  man  was  reflected  on  the  government,  ard 
contributed  much  to  procure  its  recognition.  At  each  step  they 
were  obliged  to  lift  Dupont  de  I'Eure  over  the  bodies  of  men 
and  horses,  the  fragments  of  weapons,  and  pools  of  blood,  which 
crowded  the  approaches  of  the  place  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville.  Litters 
carrj-ing  the  dead  and  wounded,  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  their 
brothcrs-in-arms,  slowly  worked  their  way  to  the  hospitals. 


126  HISTORY   OF    THE 

IV. 

At  the  turn  of  the  quay,  on  the  place  de  Greve,  the  members 
of  the  government  found  themselves  plungpd  in  a  sea  of  men ; 
the  entire  square,  as  well  as  the  broad  quay  which  borders  it, 
being  covered  with  so  densely  packed  a  crowd,  that  it  seemed 
impossible  to  make  the  passage.  Cries  of  "  Make  way  for  the 
government ! "  were  lost  in  the  vast  murmur  which  rose  from 
such  a  multitude.  Musket-shots  were  fired  here  and  there 
amidst  the  incessant  clang  of  the  tocsin  rung  in  the  cathedral 
towers  and  surrounding  belfries.  Prolonged  clamors  succeeded 
the  sharp  reports  of  fire-arms,  and  then  roarings  and  deep  and 
unintellio-ible  murmurs  issued  from  the  entrances  of  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  mixed  with  the  ringing  of  broken  glass  upon  the  pave- 
ment, and  the  shock  of  the  butts  of  the  muskets  held  by  the 
combatants. 

The  first  crowds  which  the  government  attempted  to  get 
through  looked  with  wild  and  lowering  eyes  upon  the  unknown 
deputies,  coming  in  the  name  of  a  vanquished  Chamber  to  throw 
themselves  unarmed  into  the  midst  of  the  people,  and  assume 
the  direction  of  a  victory  won  over  themselves.  They  elbowed 
them  rudely,  turned  their  backs  disdainfully,  and  refused  to 
open  a  passage  for  them. 

Still  the  names  of  Dupont  de  I'Eure  and  Arago,  repeated 
from  mouth  to  mouth,  commanded  a  respectful  attitude  from 
those  most  rebellious  to  all  respect.  These  names,  with  those 
of  their  colleagues,  promptly  circulated  from  group  to  group,  over 
the  whole  surface  of  this  sea,  and  by  degrees  caused  the  faces  of 
the  entire  multitude  to  turn  in  the  direction  of  the  spot  where 
the  government  was  seeking  to  effect  an  entrance.  But  the 
panting  curiosity  of  these  people,  still  warm  with  battle,  and 
looldng  for  an  issue  from  heaven  or  from  man,  impelled  them 
so  towards  the  deputies  who  brought  them  victory  and  peace, 
that  Dupont  de  I'Eure  and  his  colleagues  were  nearly  stifled  and 
overthrown  by  the  reflux  of  the  mass.  It  was  necessary  for  the 
cohimn  that  followed  the  government  to  form  a  rampart  for  them 
of  its  most  robust  and  intrepid  men.  This  head  of  the  column, 
like  pioneers  who  remove  obstacles,  slowly  opened  a  passage- 
way, which  constantly  closed  up  through  this  living  rampart. 

Lamartine,  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  Arago  and  Cremieux,  some- 
times united  and  sometimes  separated  by  the  involuntary,  con- 
vulsive, and  irresistible  movements  of  this  throng,  advanced  in 
this  way  obliquely  towards  the  palace,  under  an  arch  of  pikes, 


REVOLUTION    OF     1848. 


127 


rusty  guns,  sabres,  bayonels  mounted  on  long  poles,  cutlasses, 
and  poniards,  brandished  above  by  naked  arms,  powder-marked, 
bloody,  and  tremulous  with  the  fever  of  three  days'  fio-hting. 
Their  dresses  were  hideous,  their  faces  pale  and  excited  to 
madness,  their  lips  quivering  with  cold  and  excitement,  their 
eyes  fixed  as  in  insanity.     It  was  the  madness  of  liberty ! 

The  mouths,  opened  to  utter,  produced  only  deep  rattlings. 
It  was  evident  that  in  sixty  hours  these  people  had  exhausted 
their  strength,  blood,  breath,  and  voices.  It  was  the  feverish 
debility  of  a  nation  standing  on  its  bloody  couch  to  ^vitness  the 
passage  of  those  who  brought  them  the  cup  of  refreshment  and 
a  truce  to  death. 


After  traversing  this  multitude  by  long  circuits,  the  members 
of  the  government  reached  at  length  the  great  door  of  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  surmounted  with  a  bronze  statue  of  Henry  IV.  But 
the  mass  of  combatants  was  so  crowded  and  so  terrifying  under 
the  arch  of  those  stairways  ;  such  a  forest  of  steel  bristled,  both 
on  the  steps  and  within  the  inner  court,  that  the  members  of 
the  government  could  not  make  their  Avay,  in  spite  of  the  long 
struggle  which  ensued  between  the  two  opposing  currents  of 
those  who  were  entering  and  of  those  who  resisted  their  pressure. 

An  irresistible  undulation  drove  them  back,  with  their  suite  of 
National  Guards  and  citizens,  towards  a  door  nearer  the  river, 
and  engulfed  them  in  a  lower  court  encumbered  with  horses 
abandoned  by  their  dead  riders,  with  wounded,  and  with  corpses 
whose  feet  were  bathed  in  blood.  The  crowd  who  already 
filled  the  court,  as  Avell  as  that  which  followed  them  ;  the  stamp- 
ing and  neighing  of  the  horses,  breaking  their  bridles,  and  gal- 
loping with  fright ;  the  musket-shots  from  the  square  and  the 
upper  galleries,  the  accumulating  and  swarming  of  thousands 
of  men  on  the  staircase,  kept  the  deputies  for  a  long  time  sepa- 
rated from  each  other,  and  buried,  as  it  were,  in  this  furnace 
of  the  revolution.  At  length,  after  superhuman  efforts  on  the 
part  of  the  crowds,  who  overwhelmed  them,  upset  them,  trampled 
them  under  foot,  lifted  them  up,  bore  them  forward  and  dashed 
them  back  like  shipwrecked  mariners  on  a  chain  of  breakers, 
they  arrived  within  the  long  corridors  of  the  first  storj',  which 
form  the  outle's  of  this  immense  palace. 


128  HISTORY    OF    THE 

VI. 

The  torrent  of  anned  men  which  filled  the  interior  was  only 
the  more  impetuous  the  more  it  was  compressed.  Finding  it 
impossible  to  meet  and  communicate  with  each  other,  Dupont 
de  I'Eure,  Arago,  Ledru  Rollin,  and  their  colleagues,  in  vain 
entered  successively  the  secret  halls  and  chambers  ;  all  were 
equally  obstructed  with  people,  with  wounced  expiring  on  the 
straw,  with  orators  mounted  on  window-sills,  furiously  gesticu- 
lating, pointing  to  the  blood  on  their  shoes,  and  hurling  incen- 
tives to  combat  and  extermination. 

All  assembling  of  the  deputies  with  their  colleagues,  all 
silence,  all  privacy,  all  collective  deliberation,  and,  consequently, 
all  action,  were  impossible.  Despair  took  possession  of  them ; 
they  did  not  betray  it  on  their  countenances  ;  they  trembled  lest 
the  night  should  arrive  before  they  had  become  recognized  and 
accepted  by  the  people ;  such  a  night,  with  three  hundred  thou- 
sand armed  men,  intoxicated  with  powder,  amidst  the  ruins  of 
all  government,  in  a  capital  of  fifteen  hundred  thousand  men ; 
the  conflict,  the  murder,  the  conflagration,  which  might  last  and 
extend  throughout  hours  of  blood  and  fire,  made  them  shudder. 
They  floated  at  the  mercy  of  their  lassitude,  their  impotence, 
and  their  anguish ;  their  voice  was  worn  out  in  demanding 
silence,  a  place  of  refuge  against  the  tumult,  a  table,  a  pen,  a 
sheet  of  paper,  in  order  to  throw  to  the  people  from  the  windows 
one  word  of  safety,  one  sign  of  authority. 

No  human  speech  could  prevail,  from  the  height  of  the  bal- 
cony, over  the  roaring  of  a  hundred  thousand  voices,  the  clash- 
ing of  arms,  the  groans  of  the  dying,  the  discharges  of  musketry, 
prolonged  in  echoes,  beneath  the  arches,  on  the  stairways,  and 
along  the  corridors. 

VII. 

Lamartine  felt  himself  seized  by  the  arm  with  a  vigorous 
hand.  He  turned  around ;  a  man  ji  a  black  dress-coat,  and 
of  an  intelligent,  finely  marked  countenance,  said  to  him,  in  a 
low  voice,  "  I  am  going  to  open  for  you  an  unoccupied  retreat 
at  the  extremity  of  the  apartments  of  the  prefect  of  Paris; 
station  a  strong  guard  of  your  armed  men  at  the  entrance  of 
the  narrow  coriidor  which  leads  to  it.  I  will  then  seek  your 
colleagues,  one  by  one,  in  the  crowd  ;  I  will  conduct  them  to 
you,  and  you  will  be  able  to  deliberate  and  act." 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S43.  129 

This  man  was  !M.  Flottard,  an  emploiji  of  the  prefecture  of 
Paris;  he  was  familiar  with  all  the  turns  of  the  palace.  He 
threw  himself  into  the  crowd  as  if  it  were  his  element ;  his 
tall  stature,  his  strong  shoulders,  his  head  proud,  calm,  jovial, 
rising  above  the  other  heads,  enabled  him  to  subdue  and  pene- 
trate this  multitude,  to  thrust  aside  the  bayonets  with  his  hand, 
as  if  he  were  sporting  with  blades  of  corn  in  a  field.  The 
people  seemed  to  recognize  him,  and  to  permit  the  bold  and 
somewhat  rough  familiarity  of  his  gestures  and  his  commands. 
There  was  something  of  Danton  in  that  countenance,  but  of 
Danton  before  the  crime  of  September. 

M.  Flottard  and  a  few  members  of  the  government  reached, 
at  the  extremity  of  a  corridor,  a  small  door,  which  they  broke 
open.  They  entered  a  narrow  cabinet,  furnished  with  a  table 
and  a  few  chairs.  They  employed  a  dense  column  of  armed 
volunteers  in  the  corridor,  to  dispute  its  entrance.  They 
waited  till  their  other  colleagues,  summoned  by  M.  Flottard, 
should  be  delivered  and  brought  to  this  rendezvous. 

The  council  took  their  seats  around  the  little  table,  amidst 
the  crash  of  musketry  at  the  windows,  the  mutterings  in  the 
square,  and  the  noise  of  glass  broken  by  musket-butts,  and 
doors  crushed  by  the  pressure  of  the  masses. 

VIII. 

Dupont  de  I'Eure,  Arago,  Ledru  Rollin,  Marie,  Cremieux, 
Gamier  Pages,  and  Lamartine,  leaned  on  the  bare  wood  of  the 
narrow  council-fable.  Every  minute,  fresh  men,  summoned 
by  danger  and  patriotism,  hastened  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 
pierced  the  crowd,  gave  their  names,  were  introduced  into  the 
reserved  enclosure,  and  standing  behind  the  members  of  govern- 
ment, or  leaning  against  the  wall,  offered  their  aid,  while  wait- 
ing for  the  employment  of  their  courageous  devotion. 

These  were  deputies,  mayors  of  Paris,  colonels  of  the 
National  Guard,  citizens  noted  in  their  respective  quarters,  and 
journalists  of  all  liberal  opinions.  Among  them  were  noticed 
SI.  Flocon,  the  editor  of  the  republican  journal  La  Reforme,  a 
man  of  action,  fatigued  with  struggling,  but  seeking  by  strife 
only  to  win  another  form  of  order.  M.  Louis  Bla'nc,  "lost  in 
the  masses,  by  reason  of  his  diminutive  stature,  but  soon  distin- 
guished by  the  sombre  fire  of  his  expression,  the  energy  of  his 
gestures,  the  metallic  ringing  of  his  voice,  and  the  emphatic  will 
shown  in  his  movements ;  M.  Marrast,  with  his  face  composed 
12  ^ 


130  HISTORY    OF    THE 

and  gently  sarcastic,  even  in  the  heat  of  action  ;  M.  Bastide, 
the  editor  of  the  National,  with  his  military  head,  preserving 
the  resolution  of  cool  courage,  the  silence  and  immobility  of 
a  soldier  on  guard  ;  a  crowd  of  other  faces,  all  impressed, 
according  to  their  character,  with  the  energy  or  gravity  of  the 
moment ;  a  thoughtful  auditory,  bending  over  the  focus  of  a 
great  decision. 

IX. 

The  expressions  of  all  were  as  solemn  as  the  event.  Each 
one  looked  into  his  conscience,  and  deliberately  weighed  upon 
his  lips  the  words  he  was  about  to  utter. 

They  began  by  organizing  themselves  into  a  government 
council,  by  distributing  duties,  and  appointing  ministers.  On 
this  point  there  was  neither  deliberation  nor  voting;  everything 
was  done  at  the  first  movement,  by  concert  and  acclamation. 
Each  one  accepted,  without  preference  or  refusal,  the  part  best 
indicated  by  his  aptitude,  with  the  consent  of  his  colleagues. 

Dupont  de  I'Eure  was  president  of  the  council  and  of  the 
provisional  government.  His  eighty  years  and  his  virtue  pro- 
cured his  nomination.  Distrusting,  not  his  courage,  but  his 
physical  and  vocal  force,  amidst  the  tempests  of  the  public 
square,  Dupont  de  I'Eure  wrote  at  the  end  of  the  table  a  dele- 
gation of  the  presidency  in  favor  of  Lamartine.  He  loved 
Lamartine,  who  repaid  his  affection  by  respect.  Dupont  de 
I'Eure  authorized  his  colleague  to  fill  his  place  in  case  of 
absence  or  infirmity. 

Lamartine  received  the  ministry  of  foreign  affairs.  That 
of  the  interior  was  given  to  Ledru  RoUin.  Bethmont,  a  young 
deputy  of  the  constitutional  opposition,  was  appointed  minister 
of  commerce  and  agriculture.  Pure  in  heart,  calm  in  mind, 
and  gentle  in  speech,  Bethmont  was  the  charm  of  the  revo- 
lution. No  one  could  fear  a  government  of  which  the  eloquence 
of  Bethmont  would  be  the  organ,  and  his  countenance  the 
expression. 

The  ministry  of  justice  fell  to  M.  Cremieux,  an  orator  and 
man  of  business,  active,  indefatigable  with  voice  and  pen,  a 
universal  advocate,  the  softened  counsellor  of  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans  in  the  morning,  of  the  republic  in  the  evening,  always 
present,  and  everywhere  popular. 

M.  Marie  was  named  minister  of  public  works.  It  was  a 
vast  task,  that  of  directing  the  labor  of  the  people,  and  at  this 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  131 

moment  ihe  regulator  of  order.  But  M.  IMarie,  a  man  of  lofty 
counsel  and  elevated  policy,  was,  from  his  intellectual  nature, 
too  much  above  this  ministry  of  detail  and  contrivance  to  bend 
himself  to  it.  This  ministry  was  for  him  only  the  sanction  of 
his  entrance  into  the  council,  to  which  he  gave  solidity. 

M.  Arago  took  the  ministry  of  the  navy,  by  right  of  his 
science,  of  his  authority,  his  authority  over  learned  arms,  and 
his  fame,  great  as  the  sphere  where  his  name  would  float. 

A  minister  of  war  was  sought;  a  difficult  personage  to  find, 
on  the  evening  of  a  day  when  all  the  generals  had  fought 
against  the  people.  Lamartine  proposed  General  Subervie,  a 
man  of  republican  memories,  and  burning  with  ardor  beneath 
his  gray  hairs.  He  was  sought  for ;  he  hastened  to  present 
and  to  devote  himself.  This  selection,  blamed  at  first  by  igno- 
rance, on  account  of  the  brave  soldier's  years,  was  fortunate. 
A  green  old  age  is  youth  renewed.  It  loses  not  an  atom  of 
time,  because  it  knows  its  value,  nor  an  occasion  of  glory, 
because  glory  escapes  with  life.  If  Subervie,  removed  at  a 
later  date,  from  prejudice,  had  remained  minister  of  war,  the 
government  would  have  been  served  in  a  more  military  man- 
ner. 

M.  Goudchaux,  a  banker,  highly  esteemed  for  his  probity 
and  intelligence,  had  the  ministry  of  finance.  His  name  pre- 
served the  credit  which  the  revolution  had  put  to  flight. 

Lastly,  Carnot  was  called  to  the  ministry  of  public  instruc- 
tion and  worship ;  Carnot,  son  of  the  famous  conventionalist 
of  that  name,  inherited  from  his  father  the  public  virtues, 
the  love  of  man,  the  worship  of  truth,  the  constancy  and 
moderation,  which  he  unquestionably  possessed.  His  counte- 
nance, sweet  from  its  serenity,  manly  in  expression,  benevolent 
in  its  look,  attractive  by  its  smile,  called  to  mind  a  philosopher 
of  the  school  of  Athens.  His  revolutionary  name  was  a 
pledge  to  the  republicans;  his  religious  philosophy,  a  pledge 
of  toleration  and  liberty  to  the  worship  which  the  republic 
wished  to  protect  and  enfranchise,  through  respect  for  God. 

After  the  ministers,  the  provisional  government  appointed 
secretaries  to  register  its  acts,  but  especially  to  make  room  in 
the  new  power  for  all  the  active  forces  of  popularity  which 
might  be  able  to  organize  themselves  in  hostility  to  any  power 
or  influence  from  which  they  were  excluded.  M.  Marrast  was 
too  celebrated  in  the  republican  press ;  M.  Flocon  too  active  in 
journalism  and  action ;  M.  Pagncrre  too  important  in  the  con- 
stitutional propaganda  of  Paris ;  M.  Louis   Blanc   too  bold  in 


132  HISTORY    OF   THE 

his  ideas,  and  too  dear  to  the  socialist  sects,  to  be  with  impu- 
nity left  out  of  a  government  founded  on  popular  unanimity. 
They  were  nominated  secretaries  of  the  provisional  govern- 
ment. They  had  at  first  consulting,  afterwards  deliberating, 
voices  in  that  body. 

Their  names,  placed  at  first  below  the  decrees,  with  the  title 
of  secretaries,  insensibly  approached  the  names  of  the  members 
of  the  provisional  government  themselves;  they  were  elevated, 
by  encroachment  upon  the  page,  to  a  rank  which  did  not  belong 
to  them  at  first.  No  one  contested  this  usurpation  —  assented 
to  by  all.  Upon  what  legal  title  would  the  government  have 
been  able  to  support  itself  in  discarding  these  new  comers  ?  It 
had  for  its  only  title  its  own  usurpation  over  anarchy,  and  its 
courage  in  interposing  between  civil  war  and  the  people. 
These  others  had  done  as  much  —  they  obtained  their  position 
through  audacity  and  danger, 

M.  Pagnerre  alone  remained  indefatigably  in  his  office,  where 
his  modesty  alone  retained  him,  as  first  secretary  of  the  council. 

M.  Bartht'lemy  Saint  Hilaire,  a  celebrated  scholar,  a  practised 
orator  and  intrepid  spirit,  was  joined  v^ith  him.  These  two 
men,  stationed  in  the  second  rank  of  the  government,  often 
supported  its  weight,  without  receiving  enough  of  its  glory. 
MM.  Buchez  and  Recurt,  old  republicans,  organized  the  mayor- 
alty of  Paris,  under  Gamier  Pages  ;  men  equal  to  meet  every 
emergency  and  danger.  Concealed  at  the  establishment  of  the 
republic,  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  they  sustained,  in  obscurity,  the 
assault  of  the  exigences,  the  demands,  and  the  miseries  of  the 
people  of  Paris,  from  the  first  hour  to  the  last. 

M.  de  Courtais,  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  a  gen- 
tleman of  Bourbonnai,  an  old  officer  of  the  royal  army,  was 
nominated  commandant-general  of  the  National  Guard  of  Paris. 
The  favor  which  he  enjoyed  in  the  opposition,  his  martial 
figure,  his  soldier-like  and  popular  bearing,  reminded  Lamartine 
of  those  generals  of  the  people  who  control  them  by  treating 
them  with  roughness.  Courtais  appeared  to  be  one  of  those, 
created  for  the  occasion,  between  Santerre  and  Maudat ;  rude 
in  bearing,  like  the  former  —  popular,  like  the  latter.  Lamar- 
tine presented  him  with  this  title.  They  had  not  time  to  discuss 
names,  or  to  study  proprieties.  Courtais  was  nominated ;  he 
did  not  shrink  from  the  danger  :  his  position  might  give  him 
immense  influence  in  the  revolution ;  it  gave  him  the  military 
control  of  Paris  during-  an  interregnum  of  four  months  ;  it  made 
him,  in  fine,  the  republican  protector  of  a  National  Assembly. 


KEVOLUTIOxN    OF    1S43. 


133 


He  understood  only  the  spirit  of  bravery  and  popularity,  not 
that  of  an  inflexible  dictatorship  opposed  to  political  masses ; 
he  fell  between  the  people  of  Paris  and  the  National  Assembly. 


Thus  began  to  be  reorganized  some  of  the  elements  of  power. 
As  soon  as  a  minister,  a  general,  or  any  agent  of  authority,  was 
nominated,  he  received  his  summary  instructions  ;  he  departed, 
animated  with  the  spirit  of  the  council,  the  fire  of  the  emer- 
gency. He  grouped  around  him  the  first  men  of  the  revolution 
who  came  to  hand  ;  he  enlisted  in  his  suite  a  handful  of  com- 
batants, swarming  in  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  or  upon  the  square  ; 
he  hastened  to  his  post ;  he  swept  by  degrees  from  his  office  the 
armed  bands  and  adventurers  who  had  seized  upon  it ;  he  in- 
stalled some  secretaries,  and  recalled  the  scattered  workmen  ; 
he  reestablished  a  certain  appearance  and  a  certain  authority 
around  him  ;  he  gave  orders ;  informed  the  government,  by 
constant  couriers,  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  city  and  the 
precincts ;  he  received  from  it  instructions  and  impulses.  The 
government,  sitting  constantly,  agreed  upon  their  replies,  that 
one  order  should  not  contradict  another.  The  threads  of  this 
vast  woof  of  a  government  of  thirty-six  millions  of  men  were 
thus  rapidly  woven  together.  The  mayors  of  Paris  hurried  to 
and  fro,  penetrated  the  crowd,  gave  instructions  in  a  few  words 
as  to  the  dangers,  the  forces,  the  provisions,  of  their  quarter. 
They  changed  those  officers  whose  names  were  too  much  exposed 
to  resentment,  through  the  favor  of  the  fallen  government. 
They  appointed  others,  designated  by  the  outcries  of  the  people. 
They  were  mistaken  ;  they  found  better  ones.  They  gave 
powers  for  the  emergency  to  hundreds  of  commissioners  and 
sub-commissioners.  They  had  no  other  credentials  than  a  strip 
of  paper,  signed  in  pencil  with  a  name  known  to  the  people. 
To  this  one  was  consigned  the  Tuileries,  menaced  with  devas- 
tation and  flame ;  to  that  one  Versailles,  surrounded  by  bands 
who  wished  to  raze  to  the  ground  that  stronghold  of  royalty; 
to  one  Neuilly,  already  half  consumed  by  fire ;  to  another  the 
railroads,  broken  up  and  their  bridges  in  flames.  Here  it  was 
necessary  to  reestablish  the  communications  of  the  roads,  that 
this  capital,  of  five  hundred  thousand  mouths,  should  not  be 
deprived  of  bread  on  the  morrow  ;  there,  the  barricades  must 
be  partially  pulled  down,  in  order  that  the  provisions  might 
pass,  without  levelling  the  obstacles  to  the  possible  return  of  the 
\2* 


134 


HISTORY   OF    THE 


royal  troops  to  Paris,  It  was  necessary  to  feed  the  hungry 
for  three  days,  to  collect  the  wounded,  to  recognize  and  hury 
the  dead,  to  pr  tect  the  soldiers  against  the  people,  to  evacuate 
the  barracks,  tc  save  the  arms  and  horses,  to  preserve  the  public 
rrionuments,  hcipital^,  palaces,  museums,  offices,  and  temples, 
from  insult  and.  pillage.  To  quiet  this  people  of  three  hundred 
thousand  men  ;  to  pacify  them  and  make  them  go  back  to  their 
workshops  and  faubourgs;  to  establish  posts  everywhere,  with 
the  volunteers  of  victory,  in  order  to  preserve  the  lives  and 
property  of  the  vanquished  —  all  this  was  the  object  of  as  many 
measures  as  there  were  thoughts  rising  in  the  minds  of  the 
government,  and  of  as  many  commissions  granted  as  there  were 
hands  presented  to  receive  them. 

The  pupils  of  the  Polytechnic  School,  that  soldiery  of  days 
of  crisis,  to  which  its  youth  gives  ascendency  over  the  people 
and  its  discipline  authority  with  the  masses,  —  those  of  the 
school  of  St.  Cyr,  officers  without  troops,  whose  uniform  is 
followed  by  instinct,  —  those  of  the  Normal  School,  whose  gravity 
overawes  the  multitude,  —  all  ran  at  the  sound  of  the  firing,  and 
pressing  round  the  government  in  attitudes  at  once  disciplined, 
martial,  and  modest,  waited  their  orders,  and  carried  them, 
amidst  lances,  bullets,  and  flames,  over  the  theatre  of  devasta- 
tion. They  made  a  campaign  with  a  handful  of  volunteers, 
workmen  and  people,  collected  at  random  under  their  command, 
to  reestablish  order  and  to  save  society.  They  bivouacked  at 
the  gates  of  the  palace,  upon  the  squares,  at  the  branchings  of 
the  streets,  and  at  the  railroad  depots.  They  caused  the  rails 
to  be  relaid,  and  the  fires  to  be  extinguished;  they  stationed 
the  famished  poor  to  guard  the  precious  furniture  and  the  treas- 
ures of  the  rich.  One  would  have  said  that  an  immense  hive 
of  men  were  humming  round  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  suspend- 
ing the  combat  to  fly  to  the  assistance  of  the  common  civiliza- 
tion. There  was  only  needed  a  regulated  impulse  to  be  given 
to  this  instinctive  movement  of  the  people,  which  urged  it  to 
reestablish  order  by  its  virtues.  The  members  of  the  govern- 
ment and  the  ministers  began  to  command  this  movement;  this 
people  only  required  a  centre  —  they  found  it  and  strengthened 
it  in  these  devoted  citizens. 


XI. 

The   government  rrist  first  speak  to  the  people  and  the 
departments,  in  order    o  instruct  the  nation  as  to  the  state  of 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843. 


135 


affairs,  and  to  inform  it,  at  the  same  time,  what  kind  of  men 
they  were  who  had  thrown  themselves  at  the  head  of  the 
movement,  to  regulate  and  restrain  it,  and  to  change  victory 
into  tranquillity,  revolution  into  order.  Lamartine  took  his 
pen,  and  wrote  the  following  proclamation  to  the  French  people  : 

"  In  the  Name  of  the  French  People. 

"  The  government  has  just  fled,  leaving  behind  it  a  trace  of 
blood,  which  forbids  it  ever  to  retrace  its  steps.  The  members 
of  the  provisional  government  have  not  hesitated  a  moment  to 
accept  the  patriotic  mission  which  was  imposed  upon  them  by 
the  emergency.  When  the  capital  of  France  is  in  conflagra- 
tion, the  authority  of  the  provisional  government  is  derived 
from  the  public  safety.  All  France  will  comprehend  it,  and 
will  lend  to  it  its  aid.  Under  the  government  of  the  people 
every  citizen  is  a  magistrate. 

"  F'renchmen,  give  to  the  world  the  example  which  Paris  has 
just  given  to  France  ;  prepare  yourselves,  by  order,  for  the  firm 
institutions  you  are  about  to  give  yourselves. 

"  The  provisional  government  wishes  a  republic,  sanctioned 
by  the  ratification  of  the  people,  who  will  be  immediately  con- 
sulted. 

"  It  wishes  the  unity  of  the  nation,  formed  henceforth  of  all 
the  classes  of  citizens  who  compose  the  nation.  It  wishes  the 
self-government  of  the  nation,  liberty,  equality,  fraternity,  for 
its  principles ;  the  people  for  its  watchword.  Behold  the  demo- 
cratic administration,  which  France  owes  to  herself,  and  which 
our  efforts  will  secure  to  her." 

Copies  of  this  proclamation  were  thrown  to  the  people,  in 
great  numbers,  from  the  balconies  over  the  square.  It  was 
followed,  a  few  minutes  after,  by  a  proclamation  to  the  army. 
It  was  necessary  at  once  to  determine  its  fate,  repair  its  honor, 
and  prepare  its  reconciliation  with  the  people.  Lamartine 
wrote : 

"  Generals,  Officers,  Soldiers  : 

"  Power,  by  its  attacks  upon  liberty,  the  people  of  Paris,  by 
their  victory,  have  brought  about  the  fall  of  the  government 
for  whose  support  yc '  have  been  sworn.  A  fatal  collision  has 
imbrued  the  capital  with  blood.  The  blood  of  civil  war  is  that 
which  is  most  repugnant  to  France.  A  provisional  government 
has  been  created.  It  has  sprung  from  the  imperious  necessity 
of  preserving  the  capital,  reestablishing  order,  and  preparing 


i^Jt 


r 


136  HISTORY   OF    THE 

for  France  popular  institutions,  analogous  to  those  under  which 
the  French  republic  so  greatly  aggrandized  France  and  her 
armies. 

"It  is  necessary  to  restore  the  union  of  the  people  and  the 
army,  for  a  moment  disturbed. 

"  Swear  fidelity  to  the  people,  among  whom  are  ycxir  fathers, 
and  your  brothers.  Swear  love  to  these  new  institutions,  and 
everything  will  be  forgotten,  excepting  your  courage  and  your 
discipline. 

"  Liberty  will  never  demand  of  .you  other  services  than  those 
w^hich  you  may  congratulate  yourselves  upon  before  the  coun- 
try, which  will  render  you  glorious  before  her  enemies." 

These  proclamations,  thrown  among  the  people  from  the 
windows,  were  distributed  in  large  numbers  by  volunteers  who 
desired  peace.  They  hastened  to  have  them  printed,  and  posted 
up  in  all  the  quarters.  The  pupils  of  the  military  schools  and 
the  workmen  carried  them  to  the  barracks,  and  despatched  them 
to  the  bodies  of  troops  who  had  departed  from  Paris. 

Already  the  principal  chiefs  of  the  army,  to  whatever  parties 
they  had  belonged  in  the  morning,  repaired,  still  covered  with 
the  dust  of  battle,  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  They  traversed  pain- 
fully, but  without  insult,  the  ranks  of  those  whom  they  had 
fought  in  the  morning.  They  came  to  collect  round  the  pro- 
visional government,  as  round  the  only  rallying  point  against 
anarchy  and  dissolution.  The  members  of  the  government, 
without  exacting  from  them  any  other  vows  but  their  patriot- 
ism, received  them  like  brothers.  They  pressed  cordially  the 
hands  of  these  brave  officers,  and  sent  them  to  their  different 
commands,  with  no  other  order  than  to  rally  their  soldiers  to 
their  standard,  to  prevent  any  collision  between  the  people  and 
the  troops  of  the  line  ;  and  to  reestablish  the  safety  of  the  com- 
munications, by  strong  columns  circulating  without  the  barriers, 
and  over  the  roads  which  lead  to  Paris.  The  garrison  of  Vin- 
cennes  sent  in  its  submission  to  the  government.  General 
Duvivier,  a  republican  in  heart  before  the  republic,  bit,  above 
all,  endowed  with  a  religious  patriotism  ;  General  Bedeau,  Gen- 
eral Lamoriciere,  his  arm  in  a  sling,  and  burning  with  fever  in 
consequence  of  his  wound  in  the  morning;  Genera  Pire,  a 
soldier  of  the  first  republic,  of  the  empire  and  the  monarchy, 
sparkling  with  fire  and  military  zeal,  in  spite  of  the  yeirs  of  an 
old  man,  and  a  crowd  of  other  officers  of  every  grade  and  age, 
of  every  opinion  and  uniform,  ran,  some  from  the  cry  that  the 


REVOLTTTION   OF    1843.  137 

countr)'  was  in  danger,  others  from  the  enthusiasm  which  the 
word  republic  rekindled  in  their  memory;  the  litter  from  the  hope 
of  a  new  era  of  glory,  the  former  from  the  just  appeal  of  France 
in  conflagration  ;  all  from  that  first  impulse  of  the  soldier  or  the 
French  citizen,  which  throws  this  people,  of  its  own  accord,  to 
the  post  of  devotion,  service,  and  danger. 

The  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  National  Guard,  republican 
deputies,  monarchists,  legitimists,  whatever  might  be  their  re- 
grets, their  party,  or  their  hope,  flowed  in,  every  minute,  show- 
ing their  countenance,  devoting  their  hearts,  offering  their  arms. 
One  might  have  said,  that  the  throne,  which  had  disappeared, 
had  taken  away  all  barriers  between  minds  ;  and  that  there  was 
no  longer,  for  all  these  men  of  resolution,  but  one  opinion,  public 
safety ;  but  one  duty,  sacrifice  ;  but  one  party,  France.  The 
cries,  the  undulations  of  the  people,  the  crowd,  the  musket- 
shots,  the  light  of  flames,  the  confusion  and  tumult,  appeared 
to  nourish  the  enthusiasm.  It  was  the  confused  conflict  of  the 
country.  One  could  distinguish  there,  among  the  thousands, 
M.  de  Larochejaquelein,  that  Vendean  by  race,  remaining  in- 
exorable to  the  seductions  of  1S30,  proud  of  being  confounded 
with  the  republicans,  pressing  the  hands  of  the  combatants, 
commending  the  workmen  of  the  revolution,  and  speaking  to 
them  of  harmony  and  honor  for  all,  in  liberty;  he  thus  offered, 
by  his  manly  and  martial  attitude,  the  symbol  of  the  reconcili- 
ation of  classes  and  the  unity  of  the  countr  p. 


BOOK  VI. 


I. 

The  faubourgs  and  liberties  of  Paris  f  ashed,  hour  after  liour, 
in  denser  torrents,  on  the  centre  of  the  ^ity,  in  consequence  of 
the  rumor  of  the  events  of  the  evening.  They  submerged  the 
squares,  quays,  crossways,  streets  and  bridges,  the  immense 
avenues  of  the  Bastille  in  the  quarter  of  Saint  Antoine.  Two 
hundred  thousand  men,  at  least,  choked  up  the  streets  and  ap- 
proaches of  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  The  surging  and  agitation  of 
this  multitude,  clad  in  all  sorts  of  costumes,  bristling  with  all 
kinds  of  arms,  breaking  like  living  waves  upon  a  sea-wall, 
launching  its  files  of  men  upon  the  steps  of  doorways,  on  the 
points  of  the  bronze  gateways,  under  the  vestibules,  and  in  the 
staircases  of  the  palace,  which  regorged  them,  a  moment  after- 
wards, with  cries,  gestures,  uproar,  explosions  of  pain,  horror, 
or  joy ;  the  corpses  borne  by  the  light  of  flambeaux  from  the 
barricades,  by  men  who  proudly  pierced  the  multitude  in  mak- 
ing way  for  their  burthens ;  the  general  shuddering  of  the 
crowd,  as  they  uncovered  their  heads  and  raised  their  hands  in 
token  of  respect  and  vengeance ;  the  ringing  voices  of  the 
orators  of  groups  mounted  on  the  plinths  of  pillars,  the  para- 
pets of  the  river,  and  on  the  window-seats,  seeking  vairdy  to 
render  audible  a  few  words  amidst  the  tumult  which  drowned 
everything,  the  undulation  which  swept  away  everything  ;  the 
red  or  black  banners  floating  in  rags  from  the  points  of  bayon- 
ets ;  above  these  thousands  of  heads  with  their  faces  turned 
towards  the  high  windows  of  the  palace,  some  men  on  horse- 
back, bearing  orders  or  messages,  seeking  to  make  their  way  by 
pressing  the  crowd  ;  the  melancholy  tolling  of  the  bells  in  the 
distant  steeples  where  the  tocsin  had  not  ceased  to  beat,  like 
the  pulse  still  continuing  its  vibrations  after  a  fever  ;  the  alter- 
nate redness  and  pallor  of  men's  faces,  the  accent  of  their 
speech,  the  fire  of  their  looks ;  the  old  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, at  the  casements,  dormer-windows,  and  even  on  the  roofs, 


HISTORY   OF   THE    B  SVOLUTION    OF    1848.  139 

accompanying  with  gestures  and  cries  of  fright  the  scenes  of 
delirium,  fur}',  or  pathos,  which  passed  under  their  eyes  ;  night 
setting  in  with  its  terrors ;  the  ill-omened  rumors  which  circu- 
•lated  through  the  masses  ;  stories  distorted  or  exaggerated  by 
fear ;  Neuilly  in  flames,  the  Louvre  sacked,  the  Tuileries  and 
the  Palais  Koyal  already  kindled  by  the  torches  of  incendiaries  ; 
the  royal  troops  returning  with  cannon  against  the  people  ; 
Paris  the  theatre  of  new  carnage  on  the  morrow ;  the  barri- 
cades rising,  as  it  were,  spontaneously,  cro^\'Tled  with  lamps  to 
light  the  aggressors  from  afar ;  ignorance  of  the  fate  of  the 
nation  and  society,  which  was  in  the  hands  of  a  few  men  per- 
haps disagreeing  with  each  other  ;  other  men,  the  first  comers 
from  the  field  of  A-ictory,  intrenched  beforehand  on  the  floors 
of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  refusing,  it  was  said,  to  recognize 
the  authority  of  the  deputies ;  two  or  three  governments  dis- 
puting the  power,  and,  perhaps,  presently  throwing  themselves 
from  the  balconies  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  ; — everythmg  stamped 
this  solemn  hour  with  a  character  of  trouble,  doubt,  anxiety, 
horror  and  fear,  which  Avas,  perhaps,  never  presented  m  such  a 
degree  by  the  history  of  mankind.  This  aiLxiety  at  once  en- 
tered and  issued  from  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and,  through  the 
mutterings  of  the  crowd,  the  clashings  of  sabres,  the  cries  of 
delirium,  the  exclamations  of  anger,  and  the  groans  of  the 
wounded,  weighed  upon  the  members  of  the  government  them- 
selves, who  were  plunged,  beaten,  and  lost  in  this  ocean. 

II. 

They  hardly  had  sufficient  space  to  concert  rapidly,  as  they 
leaned  over  the  table  which  separated  them,  bringing  their  faces 
together  beneath  the  circle  of  the  heads,  extended  arms  and  bay- 
onets, of  the  varied  and  tumultuous  crowd  standing  round  them. 
Frequently,  in  the  impossibility  of  hearing  each  other,  or  vio- 
lently separated  by  groups  involuntarily  thro\\Ti  between  them, 
questioned,  harassed  by  urgent  demands,  summoned  to  replv 
instantly,  to  give  an  order  or  direction  for  the  safety  of  a  pub- 
lic which  could  not  wait,  each  one  boldly  took  upon  himself 
alone  the  responsibility  of  life  and  death.  He  seized  a  pen, 
tore  a  sheet  of  p?.per,  -wrote  upon  his  knee  or  hat  the  decree 
asked  for,  signed  it,  and  gave  it  to  the  executer.  Thousands 
of  orders  of  this  nature,  signed  by  Lamartine,  Marie,  Arago, 
Ledru  RoUin,  Flocon,  and  Louis  Blanc,  circulated  through  the 
barricades  during  these  first  hours.     It  was  the  divided  dicta- 


140  HISTORY   OF   THE 

torship  each  mei  nber  of  a  council  of  war  assumes  upon  the 
field  of  battle  ;  a  dictatorship  which  peril  commands,  devotion 
seizes,  and  conscience  excuses. 

Oftener,  by  dint  of  supplications,  and  desperate  efforts  of  • 
their  lungs  and  anus,  the  members  of  the  government  succeed- 
ed in  obtaining  an  instant's  silence,  and  in  regaining  a  disputed 
seat  at  the  board,  and  a  little  space  between  the  spectators  and 
themselves.  They  deliberated  in  few  words,  and  rather  in  look 
and  gesture  than  in  speech.  Each  one  of  them  wrote  suc- 
cinctly, with  a  rapid  hand,  one  of  the  decrees  resolved  upon, 
and  passed  it  to  his  colleagues,  who  appended  their  signatures 
in  exchange  for  other  decrees  which  were  handed  him  to  sign 
in  turn. 

These  decrees,  demanded  by  the  impatient  cries  of  those 
who  testified  their  urgency,  heaped  upon  the  table,  were  fre- 
quently taken  up  and  carried  to  the  press  before  they  had 
received  the  signatures  of  aU  the  members. 

The  secretar^'-general,  Pagnerre,  of  admirable  coolness,  order, 
and  activitj'',  was  hardly  able  to  take  note  of  them,  and  make 
up  a  rapid  and  confused  report.  Fire,  bloodshed,  famine,  and 
danger,  could  not  wait  for  the  slow  formalities  of  a  cahn  admin- 
istration. It  was  a  government  of  tempest  and  lightning  ; 
a  flame  from  the  sudden  and  electric  shock  of  necessity.  To 
ask  the  conditions  of  regularity,  maturity,  and  reflection,  of 
the  dictatorship  of  these  first  nights  and  days,  is  to  ask  regu- 
larit}'  of  chaos,  order  of  confusion,  a  century  of  a  second.  It 
was  necessary  to  act  and  save,  or  suffer  aU  to  crumble  and  per- 
ish. It  was  a  government  of  conflagration  in  the  midst  of  fire. 
The  men  were  worthy  of  the  moment.  They  flinched  neither 
under  the  peril  in  perspective,  nor  under  the  future  responsi- 
bility to  which  they  devoted  their  lives  and  reputations  in  ad- 
vance. They  all  consented  to  destroy  themselves,  without 
looking  either  before  or  behind  them,  for  the  safety  of  a  nation. 
The  thought  of  securing  a  retreat  by  acts  of  cowardly  pru- 
dence or  skilful  temporization,  did  not  enter  the  mind  of  a 
single  individua..  Bravely  and  understandingly,  they  offered 
themselves  as  v.ctims  to  the  injustice  or  ingratitude  of  nations, 
should  the  common  safety  become  hereafter  the  crime  of  some 
of  them.  They  presaged  this  inculpation.  They  knew  from 
historj'-  the  retrogradation  of  revolutions.  They  expected  it 
fearlessly.  The  first  condition  of  being  useful  to  one's  country, 
in  such  important  moments,  is  a  complete  self-sacrifice.     He 


i^ 


WRITING  A  DECREE  OF  THE   PROVISIONAL   GOVERNMENT 

ON   A  HAT. 

Vol.  1.    p.   139. 


iA 


' »    ,RARY 

'  THE 
.ONIVEBS»./OF\LU1.01?^ 


REVOLITTKN    OF    18-18. 


141 


who  would  save  ?.  drowning  man  must  commit  himself  naked 
to  the  ocean.     They  had  done  so. 


ni. 

Still  all  these  men  had  an  intelligent  perception  of  sacrifice 
and  peril.  With  no  other  power  over  the  convulsed  nation  but 
the  popularity  of  an  hour — a  wind  which  changes  the  quicker 
the  stronger  it  blows  ;  without  the  possibility  of  an  organized 
defence  agninst  the  army  of  royalty  which  might  reenter  Paris 
at  daybreak,  or  starv'e  it  in  eight  days  by  concentrating  on  the 
roads ;  without  the  possibility  of  judging  of  the  effect  produced 
by  a  sudden  revolution  in  the  astonished  departments  ;  without 
an  understanding  with  Algeria,  whence  an  army  of  a  hundrec' 
thousand  men  might  bring  back  the  princes  to  avenge  theij 
father's  fall ;  these  dictators  of  a  night  might  be  either  engulfed 
by  the  very  volcano  of  the  people  into  which  they  had  casf 
themselves  to  extinguish  the  flame,  or  be  the  first  to  be  Strieker 
down  at  the  head  of  the  sedition  they  had  dared  to  regulate. 
Victims  of  the  impatience  of  the  people,  or  the  righteous 
vengeance  of  royalti^',  in  coolly  examining  their  situation,  they 
had  only  to  choose  between  two  alternatives;  but  they  had  not 
the  time  to  think  of  them.  These  ideas  rose  but  once  or  twice 
to  their  lips,  and  only  impressed  the  smile  of  resignation  which 
knows  and  welcomes  its  fate. 

In  one  of  these  moments  of  desperation,  when  the  armed 
crowd  irresistibly  assailed  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  penetrating  even 
into  the  last  and  already  crowded  asylum  where  they  attempt- 
ed to  establish  some  authority ;  when  the  wave  broke  down  the 
doors,  and  overthrew  the  seats  of  the  council ;  when  the  tur- 
bulence became  such  that  confusion  and  final  impotence  re- 
duced the  members  of  the  government  to  silence  and  inaction ; 
Lamartine  said  to  Arago,  "  Have  you  calculated  how  many 
chances  less  there  are  now,  of  our  heads  remaining  on  our 
shoulders,  than  this  morning?"  "Yes,"  replied  the  acade- 
ir.iciaii,  with  a  calm  smile,  "  there  are  all  the  evil  chances  for  a 
corr.;lcte  loss  of  life  against  us,  but  there  is  one  chance  of  pre- 
serving tlfe  nation  from  its  loss.  This  reconciles  us  to  the 
others."  And  he  shook  his  white  locks  before  Lamartine  with 
his  hand,  as  if  tc  say  that  life  passes  quickly,  and  is  of  little 
value. 

Lamartine,  rer.iembering  the  session  of  the  9th  Thermidor, 
which  he  had  just  described  in  the  "Girondists,"  said  also  to 
13 


142  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Dupont  de  I'Eure  :  "  This  is  much  like  the  9th  Thermidor, 
when  the  Convention  made  Barras  move  against  the  Commune, 
and  strangle  Terror  in  its  last  counsel.  If  Royalty  and  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  have  a  Barras,  it  is  all  over  with  us  to- 
morrow, for  we  are  in  the  position  ot'  the  Commune  of  Paris. 
But  v/e  are  the  conspirators  of  order  and  pacification." 

IV. 

The  white  hair  of  Arago  made  an  impression  on  the  people. 
The  age  and  Roman  head  of  Dupont  de  I'Eure  commanded 
also,  in  their  eyes,  a  deference  mingled  with  tenderness.  This 
old  man,  youthful  in  spirit,  correct  in  his  views,  inflexible  to 
emotion,  intrepid  of  look  amidst  all  the  exhaustion  of  fatigue 
and  years,  was  the  attraction  of  all  eyes.  Those  who  entered 
the  council-chamber  had  him  pointed  out  to  them  by  those 
who  had  seen  him  ;  they  got  upon  the  chairs  and  sofas  to  look 
at  hiiu.  But  sometimes  the  undulating  violence  of  the  crowd 
was  such  that  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  bowed  down  by  years,  and 
small  in  stature,  tottered  upon  his  seat,  and  was  near  being 
suffocated.  In  these  moments  of  tumult  and  danger  to  him,  a 
woman  of  the  people,  who  would  not  leave  the  back  of  his 
chair,  uttered  cries  addressed  to  the  people,  reproaching  them 
with  their  rudeness,  pointed  out  the  old  man  with  tears  in  her 
eyes,  covered  him  with  her  body  as  she  clung  to  the  table,  and 
lavished  on  him  all  the  attentions  paid  by  a  daughter  or  sister  to  a 
father  or  a  brother  in  danger.  This  poor  woman  wore  the  decent 
but  almost  indigent  dress  of  the  tradeswomen  who  deal  in  the 
markets  of  the  Parisian  faubourgs.  Stricken  in  years  herself, 
her  countenance,  occupied  in  watching  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  ex- 
pressed simplicity  and  goodness.  She  did  not  think  of  herself. 
The  sight  of  pistols,  muskets  and  sabres,  her  own  garments 
torn  to  rags  by  the  contact  of  the  armed  multitude,  neither 
stayed  nor  intimidated  her.  Every  one  thought  her  a  woman 
with  whom  Dupont  de  I'Eure  was  familiarly  acquainted,  sent 
there  to  sustain  his  weakness.  She  did  not  know  him.  Lost 
in  the  swarm  of  men  and  women  through  which  the  govern- 
ment passed,  on  their  way  to  the  Hotel  de  ViUe,  the  woman 
had  been  struck  by  the  appearance  of  this  old  man,  held  by 
two  men  sustaining  his  arms,  and  going  to  meet  the  shock  of 
the  whole  crowd.  She  had  been  moved  with  pity  and  devo- 
tion to  him.  She  thought  that  his  old  age  required  feminine 
support,  or  that  perhaps,  the  intercession  of  a  woman  of  her 


REVOLUTION    OF    1348.  143 

condition  would  save  him  from  the  dagger  of  a  conspirator. 
She  had  attached  herself  to  his  steps,  and  entered  the  council- 
chamber  with  him,  where  she  shielded  him  by  her  solicitude. 
Devotion  is  courageous,  and  the  most  disinterested  of  passions. 


Up  to  this  moment  all  the  acts,  proclamations,  and  orders  of 
the  provisional  government,  had  been  thrown  off,  so  to  speak, 
at  random,  and  in  the  name  of  the  revolution  rather  than  that 
of  a  definite  government.  Sometimes  they  were  headed,  "  in 
the  name  of  the  French  people,"  sometimes  "  in  the  name  of 
the  nation."  The  first  communications  of  the  government 
with  the  people  had  been  received  under  this  simple  formula, 
without  exciting  attention  or  complaints. 

But  deep  rumors  already  pervaded  the  multitude.  Cries  of 
Vive  la  repiiblique !  burst  with  significant  unanimity  from  the 
combatants.  The  masses  of  the  faubourgs  marched  with  this 
cry  upon  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  A  few  steps  from  the  govern- 
ment, in  the  principal  halls  where  the  crowd  held  their  tumul- 
tuous sessions,  the  republic  had  been  already  proclaimed.  It 
was  time  for  the  council  itself  to  take  a  positive  part  for  or 
against  a  change  in  the  form  of  government. 

Its  title  of  provisional  government  was  a  sufficient  acknowl- 
edgment that  it  only  recognized  itself  as  an  authority  founded 
on  an  interregnum.  But  still  it  was  requisite  to  know  in  the 
name  of  what  monarchical  or  republican  principle  this  inter- 
regnum should  be  governed.  Necessity  raised  and  pressed 
the  question.  The  revolution  had  overthrown  royalty  in  the 
person  of  Louis  Philippe.  The  regency,  in  the  person  of  the 
Duke  of  Nemours,  had  been  passed  over  without  a  moment's 
halt.  The  Duke  of  Nemours  did  not  have  an  opportunity  to 
protest,  so  rapid  had  been  the  two  falls.  The  regency  of  the 
Duchess  of  Orleans  was  illegal,  through  a  want  of  foresight  on 
the  part  of  the  king  and  his  ministers.  But  just  proposed  to 
the  Chamber  by  M.  Dupin  and  M.  Barrot,  she  had  been  set 
aside  by  the  demand  for  a  provisional  government,  without  any 
of  the  ministers  of  royalty,  without  M.  Thiers  himself,  the 
minister  of  the  eventful  hour,  ascending  the  tribune  to  discuss 
and  sustain  the  question.  A  sudden  invasion  had  stifled  it. 
The  nation  alone  of  right  remained  standing.  In  fact,  only 
seven  men  remained  upon  their  feet,  speaking  and  acting  in 
the  name  of  the  people,  what  it  might  have  spoken  and  per* 


I 

■ 


144  HISTORY    OF   THE 

formed  itself.  These  men  evidently  had  no  right  to  change 
the  form  of  government,  if  a  government  had  existed.  But 
there  was  no  government  in  existence,  except  that  of  the  rashest 
or  most  heroic.  In  this  total  absence  of  constituent  law^s,  this 
vacuum  of  authority,  this  nullity  of  rights,  these  seven  men, 
whose  accidental  presence  here  was  their  only  title,  were  cer- 
tainly bound  to  look  around  them,  to  estimate  the  position  of 
things  as  a  whole,  and  to  deliberate.  It  was  also  allowable  for 
them  to  admit,  as  elements  of  their  deliberations,  their  own 
opinions  and  personal  tendencies,  and  to  declare  to  the  country 
whether  they  were  about  to  govern  in  the  name  of  the  mon- 
archy which  had  crumbled  at  their  feet,  or  that  of  the  republic 
raised  in  their  hearts. 


VI. 

Such  was  the  whole  state  of  the  fact,  and  all  the  authority 
of  this  solemn  debate,  in  which  the  public,  the  fire  which 
burned,  and  the  blood  which  flowed,  certainly  figured  in  the 
deliberation  as  terrible  interlocutors.  He  who  would  not  have 
listened  to  them  would  have  been  a  madman.  He  who  would 
have  hearkened  only  to  them  would  have  been  a  coward.  It 
has  been  supposed  and  asserted,  that  fear  entered  their  delib- 
erations, and  guided  the  hand  of  many  of  the  signers  of  the 
republic.  This  is  false  in  two  points.  False  as  to  men,  and 
false  as  to  things.  A  dilemma  proves  it.  The  men  who  had 
cast  themselves  into  this  crater  did  so  from  one  of  two  motives ; 
— either  because  they  were  republicans,  and  wished  to  aid  the 
issue  of  the  republic,  their  personal  idea,  from  this  explosion ; 
or  because  they  were  devoted  citizens,  offering  themselves  as  a 
holo'caust  to  the  furnace  of  revolutionary  incendiarism,  to 
repress  and  restrict  it,  and  prevent  their  country  and  the  world 
from  being  consumed  by  it.  If  these  men  were  republican 
fanatics,  it  was  not  fear  which  induced  them  to  consent  to  the 
republic.  If  these  men  were  devoted  victims,  who  offered 
themselves  up  for  the  safety  of  all,  they  were  not  the  cowardly 
natures  that  fear  could  intimidate. 

Moreover,  there  was  no  fear  of  death  imminent  for  those 
who  should  have  refused  to  pronounce  the  word  republic. 
They  had  only  to  retire  in  safety  to  their  dwellings,  and  leave 
a  place  coveted  by  a  thousand  others  in  the  circle  of  the  gov- 
ernment. The  council-table,  abandoned  by  one,  many  or  all 
of  the  members  of  the  provisional  government,  would  have  been 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S48.  145 

instantly  sjized  by  citizens  who  asked  for  nothing  out  to  replace 
them,  and  thus  compromise  themselves  before  the  people  and 
posterity.  The  danger,  on  the  contrary,  lay  in  remaining  with 
the  government  in  the  midst  of  a  tumult  which  might,  in  an 
hour's  time,  become  a  massacre.  The  danger  was  not  in  flee- 
ing. On  this  point,  history  appeals  to  a  hundred  thousand 
witnesses,  of  everj^  shade  of  opinion,  who  were  cognizant,  during 
this  terrible  evening  and  night,  of  the  events  which  passed  in 
the  interior  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  If  the  members  of  the  pro- 
visional government  were  guilty  at  that  time,  we  must  not  seek 
to  find  an  excuse  for  them  in  fear.  They  did  not  tremble,  they 
reasoned ;  or,  rather,  events  reasoned  for  them,  in  the  pressure 
of  their  situation.  They  had  but  three  measures  to  choose : 
either  to  proclaim  no  form  of  government,  to  proclaim  a  mon- 
archy, or  to  proclaim  a  republic. 

VII. 

To  say  to  the  people,  we  will  proclaim  no  government,  was 
evidently  to  say  to  all  parties  who  had  risen  for  or  against  such 
or  such  a  government,  continue  to  shed  your  blood  and  that  of 
France,  to  recruit  your  forces,  to  whet  your  arms,  and  to  assail 
constantly  the  provisional  and  unarmed  order  which  we  are  estab- 
lishing, in  order  to  extort  from  it  the  triumph  of  your  faction. 

To  proclaim  nothing  at  all  was,  then,  in  fact,  to  proclaim 
anarchy,  sedition,  permanent  civil  war;  better  a  thousand  times 
would  it  have  been  had  these  men  remained  motionless  and 
mute  in  the  ranks  of  deputies  than  to  come  forth  in  the  name 
of  public  safety  to  the  ruin  of  all. 

To  proclaim  the  monarchy  before  three  hundred  thousand 
men  who  had  risen  to  combat  it,  before  the  demoralized  or 
conspiring  National  Guard,  before  the  astonished  and  dissolved 
army,  before  the  empty  throne,  before  the  absent  king,  before 
the  regency  in  flight,  before  the  Chambers  expelled  from  the 
capitol,  was  evidently  to  proclaim  division  in  the  face  of  the 
people  ;  or,  rather,  it  was  to  desert  the  post  of  peril  and  of  direc- 
tion where  they  had  rushed,  and  to  trust  at  the  instant  the 
government  of  this  tempest  no  longer  to  men  of  moderation, 
whose  authority  had  been  miraculously  acknowledged,  but  to 
the  words  and  to  the  thunders  of  the  tempest  itself.  It  was  to 
deliver  France  to  men  of  disorder,  of  anarchy,  and  of  blood. 
It  was  to  hurl  the  nation,  by  its  own  hands,  to  the  depths  of 
the  abyss  of  extreme,  sanguinary,  desperate  parties,  instead  of 
13* 


146  HISTORY    OF    rHE 

restraining  it  at  the  risk  of  being  crushed  on  the  moderate 
descents  of  Hberty,  and  under  the  eropire  of  universal  suffrage, 
the  last  appeal  to  society  without  law  and  without  leader. 

To  proclaim  the  provisional  republic  subject  to  the  ratifica- 
tion of  the  country,  immediately  convoked  in  its  National 
Assembly,  was  then  the  only  thing,  at  once  revolutionary  and 
preservative,  to  be  done.  For,  on  the  one  hand,  the  experi- 
ment of  the  republic,  made  with  unanimity  and  moderation, 
during  a  certain  space  of  time,  was  an  immense  progress 
gained  in  the  order  of  rational  governments  and  popular  inter- 
ests ;  on  the  other  hand,  if  this  second  republic,  conceived  as 
a  happy  and  striking  contrast  to  the  excesses  and  crimes  of  the 
first,  should  be  subsequently  repudiated  by  the  assembled  na- 
tion, it  gave,  for  the  moment  at  least,  to  the  government 
charged  with  saving  the  interregnum,  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
people,  the  active  concurrence  of  all  the  republicans,  the  satis- 
faction of  turbulent  opinions,  the  astonishment  of  Europe ;  in 
a  word,  the  impulsive  movement  and  force  to  reach  a  definitive 
government  across  the  bottomless  abyss  of  a  revolution. 

VIII. 

Instinct  is  the  electric  flash  of  reason  :  it  inscribed  these 
considerations  in  letters  of  light  on  the  minds  of  the  men  of 
the  government.  Thus  the  deliberation  was  solemn  but  short, 
like  a  deliberation  on  a  field  of  battle  ;  an  exchange  of  views, 
and  a  summary  vote  demanding  of  each  member  his  conscien- 
tious opinion,  sufficed.  A  reflection  concentrating  a  whole  life 
into  a  moment,  and  a  few  brief  and  serious  words,  formed  the 
unanimous  result.  There  were,  indeed,  some  instants  of  scru- 
pulous hesitation  in  the  heart,  —  some  stammerings  on  the 
lips,  —  some  pale,  pensive  brows,  —  some  inquiring  glances  of 
intelligence,  measuring  the  breadth  and  depth  of  the  repub- 
lican element,  at  the  moment  of  stepping  from  the  century- 
worn  shore  of  the  monarchy,  to  launch  forth  upon  the  agitated 
and  unknov\rn  sea  of  the  republic.  The  oldest  and  firmest 
courage  could  not  help  a  few  gestures  and  attitudes  of  mo- 
me'ntary  irresolution,  and  of  secret  invocation  to  the  Providence 
of  nfltions  ;  but,  after  having  looked  attentively  within  and 
around,  no  one  recoiled  upon  certain  anarchy  rather  than  to 
advance  boldly  amidst  the  chances  of  common  safety.  Some 
from  long-standing  resolutions,  others  from  gratification  at  the 
triumph  of  their  system,  —  the  latter  from  old  convictions,  the 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  147 

former  from  courageous  reasons, — many,  doubtless,  from  mere 
conviction  of  necessity;  all,  in  fine,  from  the  prescience  of  the 
hour,  and  from  the  evidence  of  the  actual  impossibility  of  any 
other  solution,  proposed,  voted,  or  consented  to,  the  title  of  re- 
public on  the  frontispiece  of  the  revolutionary  government: 
only  from  this  hour  it  was  declared  and  understood,  that  the 
vast  majority  refused  inflexibly  to  usurp,  in  the  name  of  a  city 
or  of  a  faction,  over  the  entire  nation,  the  right  of  changing  its 
government ;  a  right  of  which  violence  and  tyranny  alone  can  rob 
a  people  ;  to  constrain  thirty-six  millions  of  men  to  adopt  a  gov- 
ernment which  is  repugnant  to  them,  in  the  name  of  an  armed 
faction  or  even  of  the  unanimity  of  the  people,  —  that  was  no 
longer  the  law  nor  the  republic,  it  was  crime  and  servitude. 
A  revolution  of  deliverance,  resulting  in  such  a  monstrous  ab- 
solutism, would  have  been,  according  to  the  majority,  the  in- 
sult, the  scandal,  or  the  derision  of  liberty;  every  member  of 
the  provisional  government  would  have  cut  his  hand  off  rather 
than  endorse  it.  They  agreed  to  adopt  in  the  formula,  in 
the  acts,  and  in  the  interpretation,  the  view  presented  in  the 
proclamation  drafted  in  these  terms  by  Lamartine.  The  pro- 
visional government  proclaims  the  republic  subject  to  the  ratifi- 
cation of  the  nation  by  a  national  assembly,  to  be  immediately 
convoked;  thus  civil  war  could  be  extinguished,  the  revolution 
could  be  accomplished,  the  people  could  be  directed  by  its  own 
curb,  and  still  the  nation  remained  absolute  sovereign  mistress 
of  its  definitive  government. 

Excepting  bigoted  monarchists  or  republican  partisans,  who 
place  the  right  of  their  individual  conviction  or  the  triumph  of 
their  faction  above  all  right  and  the  whole  people,  all  declared 
themselves  satisfied  with  a  solution  that  was  at  once  so  bold, 
and  so  legitimate  ;  it  was  the  best  solution  for  the  republic 
itself.  For  liberty  is  not  stolen ;  it  is  taken  possession  of  in 
open  light,  in  sight  of  the  whole  nation.  Institutions  surprised 
by  a  stroke  of  policy  on  the  part  of  a  minority  resemble  the 
fruits  of  a  larceny ;  they  are  ill-enjoyed,  and  last  but  a  littl'^ 
while.  Serious  men,  partisans  of  thfe  democratic  rule,  in  the 
council  of  the  provisional  government,  did  not  wish  that  the 
republic  should  be  a  trick  of  force  or  the  stratagem  of  a  fac- 
tion. A  republic  imposed  could  be  only  a  violent  and  perse- 
cuting republic;  they  wished  it  free,  sincere,  and  constitutional, 
or  they  did  not  wish  it  at  all.  They  proposed  it  to  the  nation 
under  their  own  responsibility,  rnd  in  the  name  of  the  initia- 
tive that  their  momentary  dictatorship  gave  them.    They  made 


148  HISTORY    OF   THE 

it  the  temporary  form  of  the  government  v/hich  they  were 
going  to  control.  They  said  in  advance  to  the  nation : — You 
can  disavow  us.  We  are  only  plenipotentiaries  of  the  people 
of  Paris.  We  endorse  the  republic  under  the  reserve  of  your 
ratification.  Without  ratification,  there  is  no  act.  Such  were 
the  explanations,  such  the  language,  such  was  the  sense  of 
the  proclamation  of  the  republic,  by  the  majority  of  the  pro- 
visional government. 

IX. 

This  sense,  explained  in  all  the  letters  to  the  people,  in  the 
proclamation,  and  in  the  thousand  addresses  of  Lamartine  and 
his  colleagues  to  the  people,  from  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  was  the 
continuous  sense  of  all  the  words,  all  the  thoughts,  and  all  the 
acts,  of  this  revolutionary  dictatorship.  The  majority  did  not 
suffer  a  single  day  to  disprove  this  signification  of  the  acts  of 
government.  This  commentary  on  its  intentions  is  found,  not 
only  in  the  proclamations  which  founded  the  republic,  with  the 
reservation  of  this  appeal  to  the  people,  —  not  only  in  the  im- 
mediate convocation  of  the  National  Assembly,  but  in  the 
numberless  discourses  in  which  the  members  of  this  majority  ad- 
dressed or  replied  to  the  moderate  parties,  who  demanded  free 
suffrage  during  their  dictatorship,  and  the  extreme  parties,  who 
demanded  tyranny.  The  enemies  of  the  republic  have  calum- 
niated its  authors  in  this  point.  They  were  desirous  of  detect- 
ing a  theft  or  an  usurpation  in  its  foundation.  They  found 
but  three  things  in  the  acts  of  a  majority  of  this  government:  — 
a  dictatorship,  the  shortest  possible,  accepted  with  no  other 
ambition  than  that  of  serving  in  the  name  of  the  common 
danger ;  a  bold,  though  temporary,  initiative  of  the  republic, 
conscientiously  taken  to  try  the  fortune  of  liberty,  and,  of 
necessity,  to  stifle  anarchy  under  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people; 
finally,  an  inviolable  respect  for  national  sovereignty,  and  an 
immediate  and  perpetual  appeal  to  the  people.  This  is  the 
entire  truth,  the  merit,  the  crime  or  the  virtue,  of  this  govern- 
ment. 


X. 

As  soon  as  the  proclamation  of  the  republic  on  these  terms 
had  been  unanimously  resolv  ^d  upon,  they  hastened  to  send 
to  the  national  printing-office  to  call  in  the  decrees  of  govern- 


J 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  149 

ment  which  had  not  yet  borne  th;..  titulai  formula.  Since  the 
government  had  been  declared,  it  was  of  instant  importance  to 
deprive  the  extreme  factions,  which  were  agitating  in  the  square, 
of  this  grievance,  employed  to  prevent  the  pacification  of  the 
people.  A  tri-colored  flag  was  planted  at  a  window,  and  hun- 
dreds of  pieces  of  paper,  on  which  these  words,  "  The  Republic  \ 
is  proclaimed,"  were  written,  flew  over  the  crowd.  They  were  \ 
read,  and  passed  from  hand  to  hand.  The  phrase  flew  from 
mouth  to  mouth,  and  doubt  and  strife  ceased.  A  hundred 
thousand  men  raised  their  arms  to  heaven.  A  unanimous 
shout  ascended  from  the  Greve,  the  quays,  the  bridges,  and 
streets  adjacent  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  It  extended  and  multi- 
plied gradually,  even  to  the  Bastille  and  barriers  of  Paris. 

The  explosion  of  this  sentiment,  compressed  for  a  half  cen- 
tury on  the  lips  and  in  the  hearts  of  a  part  of  the  generation, 
was  accomplished.     The  remainder  of  the  citizens  heard  it ; 
some  with  secret  terror,  others  with  astonishment,  the  greatest 
with  that  confused,  and,  so  to  speak,  mechanical  joy  which 
salutes  great  novelties  ;  but  all  without  opposition  and  murmur, 
as  a  specific  conclusion,  causing  the  weapons  to  fall  from  the 
hands  of  combatants,  and  lightening  the  hearts  of  the  citizens 
of  the  weight  of  anxiety  artd  grief  which  had  weighed  for 
three  days  on  the  soul  of  the  people.     If  the  republic  had  only 
been  proclaimed  by  the  republican  party,  it  would  have  caused 
that  humiliation  and  anguish  with   which  the  triumph  of  a 
faction  always  fills   impartial  citizens.     It  would  have  been 
repulsed,  perhaps,  before  the  close  of  the  night,  by  the  repug- 
nance  of   the   National  Guard.     The  Hotel  de  Ville  would 
certainly  have  been  deserted,  at  all  events,  by  all  those  who 
did  not  hold  to  the  republican  faction.     They  w^ould  have  left  the 
republic  to  the  responsibility  of  its  authors.     This  desertion  of 
the  National  Guard  and  the  moderate  part  of  the  population 
would  have  shown  the  republic  in  an  isolation,  \vhich  would 
have  rendered  it  suspected.     But  the   impartial  names  of  Du- 
pont  de  I'Eure,  Arago,  Lamartine,  Marie,  Cremieux,  and  Gnr- 
nier  Pages,  who  were  known  to  be  strangers  to  every  faction, 
enemies  to  all  excess,  inflexible  against  all  violence,  gave  con- 
fidence to  the  mind  of  the  city,  and  showed  in  perspective,  in 
the  republic  signed  by  their  hands,  not  gloomy  recollections  of 
the  past,  but  horizons  filled  with  promised  rights,  security  and 
hope,  for  the  unknown  future,  on  which  they  entered  with  con- 
fidence on  the  faith  of  necessity. 


150  HISTORY   OF    THE 


XI. 


The  republic  onie  proclaimed,  the  government  and  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  seemed  to  draw  a  moment's  breath,  as  if  a  new 
vital  air  from  heaven  had  breathed  upon  this  furnace  of  men. 
Uncertainty  is  the  wind  of  popular  passions,  as  it  is,  in  the 
pains  and  labor  of  existence,  half  the  weight  upon  the  human 
heart. 

A  part  of  the  people  seemed  to  retire  to  go  and  spread  the 
great  news  in  their  dwellings.  With  the  exception  of  Lamar- 
tine  and  Marie,  the  greater  part  of  the  members  of  the  govern- 
ment who  were  at  the  same  time  ministers  successively  left 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  went  to  their  departments ;  Ledru  EoUin 
to  the  Interior,  Arago  to  the  Navy.  The  new  ministers,  stran- 
gers to  government,  —  such  as  Goudchaux,  of  Finance,  General 
Subervie,  of  War,  Carnot,  of  Public  Instruction,  and  Bethmont, 
of  Commerce,  —  retired  to  go  and  establish  subordination  in  their 
administration.  Some  returned,  at  intervals,  to  assist  the  gov- 
ernment council  in  permanent  session. 

These  first  hours  of  the  night  were  a  tumult  rather  than  a 
council.  They  were  obliged  to  rise  at  every  noise  without;  to 
sustain,  by  the  weight  of  their  shoulders,  doors  burst  by  blows 
from  the  butts  of  muskets,  or  arms  impatient  of  resistance;  to 
make  way  through  naked  weapons  to  harangue,  implore,  and 
subdue  these  detachments  of  the  multitude  ;  to  bear  them  back, 
partly  by  eloquence,  partly  by  force,  always  by  a  calm  brow, 
cordial  gesture,  and  energetic  attitude,  thus  detaching  one 
party  to  combat  another;  then,  the  tumult  repressed,  to  reenter 
amidst  applause  which  deafened  the  ear,  shaking  of  hands  that 
paralyzed  the  members,  embraces  which  choked  the  respiration ; 
to  dry  the  perspiration,  to  resume  their  places  coolly  at  the 
council-table,  to  digest  proclamations  and  decrees,  until  some 
new  assault  jarred  the  ceilings,  shook  the  doors,  drove  back 
the  sentinels,  twisted  the  bayonets,  and  recalled  the  citizens 
collected  round  the  government,  and  its  members  themselves, 
to  the  same  harangues,  the  same  efforts,  and  the  same  dangers. 

Lamartine  '^vas  almost  always  summoned  by  name.  His 
tall  figure  and  sonorous  voice  rendered  him  most  fitted  for 
these  conflicts  with  the  crowd.  His  clothes  were  in  tatters, 
his  neck  bare,  his  hair  reeking  with  perspiration,  and  soiled 
with  dust  and  smoke.  He  went  out  and  returned,  rather  car- 
ried than  escorted  by  groups  of  citizens.  National  Guards,  and 
pupils  of  the  schools  who  had  attached  themselves  to  his  steps 


BEVOLUTION    OF    1348.  151 

without  his  knowing  them,  like  a  vjlunteer  staff  to  a  leader  in 
the  field  of  a  revolution. 

Among  them  was  noticed  a  young  professor  of  the  college 
of  France,  Payer,  whose  very  name  Lamartine  did  not  know, 
but  whose  cool  ascendency  in  the  face  of  danger,  and  collected- 
ness  in  the  midst  of  tumult,  characteristics  of  the  men  of  crises, 
he  admired.  There  was  noted,  also,  a  young  man  with  blue 
eyes,  light  hair,  and  stentorian  voice,  whose  gestures  were 
imperious,  whose  stature  was  athletic,  ruling,  hectoring,  and 
breaking  up  the  masses,  sabre  in  hand,  and  who,  from  the  first 
day,  both  within  and  without  the  chateau,  on  foot  or  on  horse- 
back, assumed  a  magnetic  empire  over  the  multitude.  This 
was  Chateau  Renaud. 

There  were,  a  young  pupil  of  the  Polytechnic  School,  hand- 
some, calm,  and  mute,  but  always  on  his  feet,  like  a  statue  of 
reflection  in  action,  —  a  figure  which  recalled  the  silent  Bona 
parte  of  Vendemiaire;  Dr.  Sanson,  placed  in  charge  of  the 
wounded,  and  the  arrangement  of  the  bodies  heaped  up  in  the 
courts  and  lower  halls ;  Faivre,  a  young  physician,  his  features 
excited  by  the  whirl  of  action  and  the  idea  which  he  believed 
he  saw  bursting  forth  like  a  revelation  of  the  people ;  Ernest 
Gregoire,  an  orator,  diplomatist,  and  soldier  of  the  masses, 
fitted  for  everything  in  those  extreme  moments  when  the  divi- 
sion of  faculties  ceases,  and  the  thought,  word,  and  hand  of 
intrepidity  and  address  must  be  united  in  an  instinct  as  rapid 
as  the  movements,  as  manifold  as  the  faces,  of  a  revolution ;  and 
a  great  number  of  others,  whose  names  will  be  found  in  the 
explanatory  notes  to  this  history. 

XII. 

Each  member  of  the  provisional  government  present  in 
turn  sustained  the  same  assaults  and  the  same  fatigues ; 
braved  the  same  dangers,  and  achieved  the  same  triumphs. 
Marie,  immovable  and  cold,  always  seated  or  standing  in  the 
same  place,  prepared,  pen  in  hand,  the  logical  prefaces  of  the 
decrees,  or  instructions  to  the  agents  of  the  public  force,  liis 
deep  and  ardent  eye  seemed  to  dart  his  will  into  the  heart  of 
the  multitude,  while  his  imperative  gestures  intimidated  objec- 
tion and  subdued  resistance.  His  lofty  head,  turned  disdain- 
fully towards  the  agitators,  made  an  impression  on  turbulence, 
even  without  a  word  spoken. 

Gamier  Pages,  already  broken  down  by  suffering,  and  by 


152  HISTORY   OF   THE 

the  efforts  he  had  just  made  to  conquer  and  concentrate  in  his 
hands  the  mayoralty  of  Paris,  poured  his  voice,  his  soul,  his  ges- 
tures, and  his  sweat  upon  the  multitude,  in  floods.  His  arms 
opened  and  closed  upon  his  breast,  as  if  to  embrace  the  people. 
Goodness,  love,  and  courage,  illuminated  his  pale  countenance 
with  a  ray  of  ardor  which  touched  the  most  exasperated  hearts. 
He  did  more  than  convince,  he  melted.  Lamartine,  who,  till 
then,  had  only  known  the  name  and  merit  of  Garnier  Pages, 
viewed  him  with  admiration.  "  Take  care  of  your  life,"  said 
he ;  "  economize  your  strength  ;  do  not  pour  out  your  whole  soul 
at  once  :  we  shall  have  long  days  of  struggling;  do  not  exhaust 
all  this  courage  in  a  single  night."  But  Garnier  Pages  took 
no  care  of  himself.  While  sinking,  he  still  required  miracles 
of  nature.  It  was  the  suicide  of  integrity.  He  finally  fell 
from  exhaustion  on  the  floor,  to'  repose  his  torn  lungs,  and 
recover  a  little  voice  in  an  hour's  sleep.  He  was  wrapped  up 
in  his  cloak.  But  the  fever  of  public  good  consumed  him. 
He  did  not  sleep,  and,  with  a  hoarse  and  broken  voice,  con- 
tinued to  order,  counsel,  and  harangue. 

Duclerc,  who  seemed  to  be  his  disciple  and  imitator,  did 
not  leave  Garnier  Pages.  He  was  an  eminent  editor  of  the 
National,  intrusted  with  higher  questions  of  finance  and  politi- 
cal economy.  Young,  handsome,  and  sedate,  his  look  direct, 
his  forehead  ample,  his  lips  firm,  he  spoke  little,  and  acted 
only  to  the  purpose.  Thoughtful,  untiring,  going  directly  to 
his  object  at  the  first  blow,  he  stated,  cleared  up,  and  system- 
atized everything.  In  his  expression,  as  in  his  mind,  there 
was  more  of  command  than  persuasion.  He  was  felt  to  be  the 
incarnation  of  order,  seeking  an  issue  out  of  disorder.  He 
seemed  to  watch  the  first  symptoms  of  a  reconstituted  govern- 
ment, to  assume  his  natural  place  in  it  at  the  side  of  his  master 
and  friend.  Lamartine,  in  the  intervals  of  repose,  took  pleas- 
ure in  contemplating  this  young  man  and  seeing  him  act. 
Resource  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  regularity  in  confusion, 
decision  in  embarrassment,  light  in  chaos  —  such  did  Duclerc 
appear  to  him. 

Marrast,  although  less  gifted  by  nature  for  making  an  im- 
pression on  the  masses, — a  man  for  a  select  circle  rather  than 
a  public  place,  —  was  imperturbable  at  his  post,  as  secretary  of 
the  government,  at  the  end  of  the  council-table.  If  he  did  not 
speak  to  the  people,  he  did  not  cease  to  counsel,  direct,  and 
write.  His  rapid  pen  recorded  at  a  single  dash  a  summary 
of  the  most  stormy  discussion.     He  added  what  should  have 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  153 

been  said  to  what  had  been  said.  The  most  important  consid- 
erations flowed,  without  an  explosion,  from  his  n  ind,  like  light 
itself  which  makes  no  noise  while  expanding  *ver  an  entire 
object.  This  man,  whose  grace  has  been  mistaken  for  weak- 
ness, did  not  falter  a  moment,  either  in  look  or  in  attitude, 
during  the  long  convulsions  of  a  revolution  of  which  a  frag- 
ment might,  at  any  moment,  strangle  him  in  its  grasp.  He 
saw  the  peril,  and  smiled  on  it  with  a  sad  but  genuine  smile. 
Expecting  everything,  resigned  to  everything  —  uttering,  in  the 
midst  of  flame,  those  witty  but  thoughtful  words  which  prove 
that  the  soul  sports  with  danger,  —  such  was  the  man  at  the  first, 
and  such  he  was  throughout  the  duration  of  the  dictatorship. 

Other  men,  Pagnerre,  Barthelemy  Saint  Hilaire,  Thomas, 
the  chief  editor  of  the  National,  Hetzel,  Bixio,  Buchez,  Flot- 
tard,  Recurt,  Bastide,  almost  all  men  of  thought,  belonging  to 
the  press  of  Paris,  changed  to  men  of  action  by  circumstances, 
pressed  into  the  narrow  enclosure  round  the  government, 
devoted  to  its  orders,  ready  to  counsel,  indefatigable  in  work- 
ing, and  intrepid  in  danger.  Their  faces  had  become  elevated, 
like  their  characters.  The  solemnity  of  the  time  lifted  up 
those  heads,  ordinarily  bowed  over  the  writer's  lamp.  The 
shades  and  rivalries  of  opinion,  which,  in  the  morning,  again 
divided  these  leaders  and  armies  of  the  Parisian  press,  were 
now  fused  in  one  common  and  burning  enthusiasm  for  the 
public  safety. 

In  their  midst  was  distinguished,  by  his  bald  forehead  laden 
with  revolutionary  souvenirs,  by  the  fine  and  contemplative 
expression  of  his  features,  and  the  active  precision  of  his 
words,  an  old  aid-de-camp  of  Lafayette,  who  had  witnessed 
the  abortion  of  the  republic  in  this  same  palace  in  1830,  who 
distrusted  the  tribunes  and  the  people,  and  who  seemed  to  be 
watching  the  focus  of  the  revolution.  This  was  Sarrans.  He 
was  felt  to  be  the  soldier  of  the  old  wars  of  the  republic, 
equally  ready  to  write,  act  or  speak,  with  the  new  ideas  of  the 
day. 

XIII. 

Meanwhile  night  had  fallen.  The  deep  hum  of  the  quar- 
ters in  the  vicinity  of  the  centre  sank  with  it.  The  citizens, 
satisfied  with  the  existence  of  an  active  and  firm  government, 
recalled  to  their  houses  by  the  hour  of  rest,  and  the  necessity 
of  quieting  their  families,  began  to  drop  away.  There  only 
remained  upon  the  place  de  Greve  t  A^ouacs,  the  rear-guards  of 
14 


154  HISTORY   OF    THE 

the  revolution,  combatants  exhausted  and  tottering  with  cold 
and  wine,  who  were  watching,  with  lighted  matches,  round 
four  pieces  of  artillery,  charged  with  grape-shot,  and  the  ex- 
cited, feverish  and  tenacious  mass,  insatiable  in  agitation  and 
action,  which  encamped,  floated,  or  created  disturbances,  in 
the  courts  and  halls  or  on  the  staircases  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

These  masses  were  especially  composed  of  old  members  of 
secret  societies  ;  an  army  of  conspirators  of  all  dates,  from  1815 ; 
restless  revolutionists,  deceived  in. their  hopes  in  1S30,  by  the 
revolution  which  they  had  created  only  to  baffle  them ;  and 
combatants  of  the  three  days,  directed  by  committees  of 
La  Reforme  newspaper,  who  had  hoped  that  the  government 
would  belong  exclasively  to  those  who  had  so  large  a  share  of 
the  bloodshed  and  victory. 

To  these  three  or  four  thousand  men,  animated  by  resent- 
ment and  political  ambition,  were  united,  but  still  in  small  num- 
bers, a  few  socialist  and  communist  adepts,  who  saw  in  the 
explosion  of  the  day  the  dawn  of  a  loaded  mine  beneath  the 
very  foundations  of  ancient  society,  and  who  thought  they 
held  in  their  muskets  the  guarantee  of  their  system,  and  of  the 
renovation  of  humanity.  The  remainder  was  composed  of  those 
madmen  who  have  no  political  system  in  their  minds,  nor 
social  chimeras  in  their  hearts,  but  who  only  receive  a  revolu- 
tion on  account  of  the  disorder  it  perpetuates,  the  blood  it 
sheds,  and  the  terror  it  inspires.  Writers  and  cold-blooded  dem- 
agogues had  nurtured  them,  for  twenty  years,  on  ferocious 
admiration  for  the  grandeurs  of  crime,  the  sacrifices  and  the 
massacres  of  the  former  reign  of  terror.  Few  in  number, 
they  were  still  men  decided  to  recognize  no  republic  but  by 
the  scaffold,  and  no  government  but  by  the  ,axe  it  would  lend 
them  to  decimate  the  citizens. 

Finally,  the  tide  of  the  day  had  cast,  and  the  night  had  left 
at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  a  portion  of  the  ragged  scum  of  the 
vicious  population  of  great  capitals,  which  commotions  raise 
and  keep  afloat  for  a  few  days  on  the  surface,  until  they  sink 
again  into  their  natural  sewers  ;  men  always  between  two 
seas,  of  wine  and  blood,  who  scent  carnage  on  quitting  debauch, 
and  who  never  cease  to  besiege  the  ear  of  the  people  till  they 
have  thrown  them  a  carcass,  or  sv  ept  them  into  prison,  as  a 
disgrace  to  all  parties.  They  were  the  drainings  of  the  jaila 
and  galleys. 


REVOLTTTIO!!   OF    1848.  155 


XIV. 


While  the  government  was  profiting  by  these  first  moments 
of  quiet  in  the  streets,  to  multiply  its  orders,  regulate  its  rela- 
tions with  the  difTerent  quarters,  and  send  its  decrees  to  the 
departments  and  the  armies,  these  men,  repudiated  by  the  true 
people  in  other  parts  of  this  vast  edifice,  wavered,  at  the  voice 
of  speech-making  demagogues,  between  the  acceptance  of  the 
new  government,  and  the  installation  of  as  many  governments 
as  they  had  chimeras,  ambition,  fury  or  crimes  in  their  hearts. 
Tremendous  vociferations  rose  at  intervals,  from  the  bottom  of 
the  court-yards,  to  the  ears  of  the  provisional  government;  dis- 
charges of  musketry  applauded  the  most  incendiary  motions. 
Here  they  spoke  of  planting  the  red  flag,  the  symbol  of  blood 
that  was  to  flow  until  terror  had  subdued  all  the  enemies  of 
djsorder;  there,  of  displaying  the  black  flag,  the  sign  of  the 
misery  and  degradation  of  the  proletary  race,  or  the  mourning 
of  a  sufTering  society,  which  ought  not  to  declare  itself  at 
peace  until  after  having  wreaked  its  vengeance  on  the  haur- 
geoisie  and  property. 

Some  wished  the  government  to  be  chosen  by  nocturnal 
ballot,  and  that  the  members  should  only  be  selected  from 
among  the  combatants  of  the  barricades;  others,  that  the 
leaders  of  the  most  unbridled  socialist  schools  should  be  alone 
raised  by  the  votes  of  the  victorious  working-men  of  different 
parties.  These  demanded  that  the  government,  whatever  it 
might  be,  should  deliberate  in  the  presence  and  under  the 
bayonets  of  delegates  chosen  by  them  as  censors  and  avengers 
of  all  its  acts ;  those,  that  the  people  should  declare  itself  in 
permanence  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  should  be  itself  its  own 
government  in  an  uninterrupted  assembly,  where  all  measures 
should  be  voted  by  acclamation. 

Fanaticism,  delirium,  fever  and  intoxication,  uttered  these 
sinister  or  absurd  notions  at  random,  sustained  here  and  there 
by  confused  acclamations,  then  instantly  falling  under  the  dis- 
gust of  the  multitude,  who,  like  good  citizens,  treated  them  with 
horror  or  contempt. 

XV. 

A  certain  number  of  the  malecon tents  belonged  to  the  fighting 
partisans  of  La  Reforme.  These  more  hot-headed  republicans 
were  astonished  that  the  names  of  the  writers  or  active  men 
of  this  party,  who  had  done  everything  for  this  triumph,  did  not 


156 


HISTORY  OF   THE 


figure,  or  figured  only  as  secretaries,  in  the  government. 
They  refused  to  recognize  a  power  rushing  from  the  CJiamber 
of  Deputies,  as  if  to  confiscate  the  spoil,  without  having  battled 
or  conspired.  In  this  government,  descending  from  above, 
they  saw  none  of  the  names  they  had  been  accustor.ied  to 
respect  on  their  lists,  and  in  the  illegal  meetings  of  conspira- 
tors against  royalty.  They  read  names  suspected,  in  their 
eyes,  of  aristocratic  origin,  of  complicity  with  monarchy,  of  a 
community  of  ideas  or  interests  with  the  hereditary  class  of 
society.  Of  all  the  names  in  which  their  confidence  was  de- 
manded,—  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  Arago,  Lamartine,  Cremieux, 
Garnier  Pages,  Marie, —  one  alone,  that  of  Ledru  RoUin,  was 
familiar,  and  touched  their  sympathies,  as  being  the  name  of 
an  orator  who  had  proclaimed  himself  a  republican  in  advance 
of  the  republic,  and  who  had  created  or  fanned  the  flame  of 
the  most  burning  democratic  principles.  But  where  was  Louis 
Blanc,  the  publicist  of  the  captivatingdogmas  of  association  and 
wages  ?  Where  was  Flocon,  the  clear-sighted  but  fearless  man 
of  action,  whose  hands,  blackened  by  the  powder  of  so  many 
battles,  had  been  judged  worthy  to  conquer,  but  not  to  govern  ? 

Such  were  the  complaints,  grievances  and  murmurs.  Such 
were  soon  the  agitations  which  circulated  among  the  shouting 
and  swaying  masses  of  combatants,  in  the  lower  stories,  on 
the  square,  at  the  doors  and  in  the  court-yards  of  the  palace. 

An  approaching  explosion  seemed  imminent.  A  few  men, 
devoted  at  once  to  order  and  progress,  leaders  of  combatants, 
accredited  journalists,  municipal  officers,  mayors  of  Paris,  and 
pupils  of  schools,  endeavored  to  repress  and  bear  back  the 
crowd.  The  multitude  accumulated,  recoiled,  and  dissolved  at 
their  voices  ;  then,  thrilling  again  at  the  voice  of  another  tri- 
bune, they  scattered  through  the  upper  stories  and  the  corri- 
dors, uttering  imprecations,  breaking  windows,  forcing  doors, 
and  loudly  calling  for  the  provisional  government,  that  they 
might  depose  or  turn  them  out  of  the  palace.  Prodigies  of 
moral  valor  and  physical  force  were  performed,  during  these 
hours  of  confusion  and  trouble,  in  resistance  to  the  scattered 
bands  of  insurgents,  and  to  bear  them  down  by  words,  or  by 
the  obstacle  which  the  breasts  of  the  little  number  of  the  de- 
fenders of  the  government  incessantly  opposed  to  them. 

Lagrange,  who  had  been  installed,  in  the  name  of  a  delega- 
tion of  combatants,  Governor  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  undeciied 
yet  as  to  the  nature  of  the  government  he  should  recogtize 
and  cause  to  be  respected,  wandered  about  with  his  sabre  in 


REVOLUTION    OF    1£,4& 


157 


his  hand,  and  a  pair  of  pistols  in  his  belt,  among  the  waves  of 
this  multitude.  They  recognize  in  him  the  type  of  their  long 
sufferings,  their  triumph  and  their  excitement.  With  the  fire 
of  courage  flaming  in  his  eye,  the  disorder  of  the  general 
mind  expressed  in  his  waving  hair,  with  extravagant  gesture, 
and  deep  voice,  he  harangued  the  crowds  that  pressed  round 
him  as  round  an  apparition  from  a  dungeon.  In  all  his  addresses, 
which  were  at  once  fiery  and  soothing,  he  recommended  tem- 
porization  and  truce  to  the  people,  rather  than  deference  to  the 
new  power. 

They  saw  that,  hesitating  himself,  and  strong  in  another 
commission,  he  delayed  complete  adhesion;  ready  to  undertake 
the  formation  of  the  government,  rather  than  obey  it.  Still 
his  addresses,  like  his  countenance,  breathed  a  warm  charity 
for  the  combatants,  pity  for  the  wounded,  a  horror  of  blood- 
shed, reconciliation  between  classes.  A  sort  of  apostle  of 
peace,  with  arms  in  his  hands,  —  thus  did  Lagrange  appear, 
gesticulate  and  harangue,  during  this  night. 

Flocon,  passing  alternately  and  incessantly  from  action  to 
speech  and  from  speech  to  action,  made  generous  efforts  to 
calm  these  suspicions  and  this  fury.  Indifferent  as  to  the 
share  of  the  government  which  would  fall  to  his  part  person- 
ally, provided  the  republic  triumphed,  his  stoical  coolness  in 
the  tumult  never  suffered  his  eye,  thought,  or  word,  to  deviate 
from  his  object.  His  iron  voice  had  the  metallic  notes  of  a  mus- 
ket-butt ringing  on  the  pavement ;  his  manly  paleness,  the  con- 
centration of  his  features,  the  bearing  of  his  head  as  he  shook 
it,  his  relations  with  the  most  intrepid  soldiers  of  the  revolu- 
tion, who  had  known  him  under  fire,  his  clothes  loose,  torn, 
and  soiled  with  the  smoke  of  powder,  gave  a  sovereign  ascen- 
dency to  his  counsel.  But  now,  exhausted  by  three  days  and 
nights  of  vigil,  battle  and  sickness,  his  voice  did  not  reach  as 
far  as  his  will. 

Louis  Blanc,  followed  by  Albert,  also  moved  among  the 
groups,  and  addressed  them.  His  name  was  then  immensely 
popular.  He  united  in  his  person  the  double  prestige  of  the 
extreme  political  party  which  gave  him  his  relations  with  La 
Rtforme,  and  of  his  socialist  doctrines  on  association.  These 
theories  crazed  the  working-men,  by  prospects  which  they 
thought  they  had  at  last  secured  by  the  points  of  their  bayonets. 

Albert  followed  Louis  Blanc.     A  working-man  himself,  he 
was  mute  behind  his  master;  but  his  expression  of  conviction, 
his  pale  face,  his  wild  gestures,  his  palpitating  lips,  strongly 
14* 


158  HISTORY    OF    THE 

expressed  a  fanatical  trust  in  the  unknown.  Without  speak- 
ing, he  was  a  conductor  of  that  moral  electricity  with  which 
Louis  Blanc  wished  to  charge  the  people,  in  order  to  shatter 
the  old  conditions  of  labor. 

Louis  Blanc  and  his  friends  preached  neither  anger  nor  blood- 
shed to  the  people.  Their  doctrines  and  their  words  were,  on 
their  lips,  doctrines  and  words  of  peace.  Louis  Blanc  strove, 
with  an  eloquence  full  of  images,  but  cold  at  heart,  like  all  ideal 
eloquence,  to  disarm  the  hand  by  dazzling  the  imagination. 
He  merely  hinted  to  the  people  that  they  should  secure  pledges 
of  the  government,  by  introducing  their  friends  into  it.  He 
designated  himself;  he  pointed  to  Albert.  He  was  admired 
and  applauded,  rather  than  obeyed.  His  little  figure  buried 
him  in  a  crowd  ;  the  people  were  astonished  at  the  strong  voice 
and  lofty  gestures  proceeding  from  so  feeble  a  body.  The  mul- 
titude always  confound  the  strength,  grandeur  of  character  and 
ideas,  with  the  stature  of  an  orator.  Apostles  may  be  slight  of 
figure  —  tribunes  must  challenge  attention  by  their  size,  and 
rule  with  their  aspect  the  public  square.  The  sensual  people 
measure  men  by  the  eye.  The  tumult  increased ;  the  insur- 
rection was  aggravated. 

XVI. 

The  insurgents  came  several  times  and  knocked  at  the  doors  of 
the  retreat  where  the  provisional  government  was  sitting,  threat- 
ening to  turn  it  out,  and  refusing  all  obedience  to  its  decrees. 
Cremieux  first,  and  Marie  afterwards,  had  succeeded,  by  dint  of 
firmness  mingled  with  skilful  supplications,  to  make  these  bands 
retire  to  the  court-yards  of  the  palace.  They  had  won  back  the 
moral  authority  of  the  government.  Seven  times  since  night- 
fall had  Lamartine  left  his  pen  to  rush  into  the  corridors,  upon 
the  landing-places,  and  even  the  steps  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 
followed  by  a  few  faithful  citizens,  to  ask  of  these  disorderly 
masses  obedience  or  death.  Each  time,  though  received  at  first 
with  imprecations  and  mumiurs,  he  had  ended  by  removing  to 
the  right  or  left  sabres,  poniards,  and  bayonets,  brandished  by 
drunken  and  unsteady  hands ;  making  a  tribune  of  a  window, 
a  balustrade,  or  a  flight  of  steps ;  causing  weapons  to  sink,  cries 
to  cease,  applause  to  burst  forth,  and  tears  of  enthusiasm  and 
reason  to  fall. 

The  last  time,  a  phrase  of  happy  coolness  and  audacity, 
involving  a  reproach  in  a  pleasantry,  had  saved  him.     An  irri- 


REV(.LUTION   OF    1S4«.  159 

tated  mass  covered  the  steps  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  Musket- 
shots,  directed  against  the  windows,  threatened  to  er.terminate 
the  feeble  posts  of  volunteers  Avho  opposed  this  new  invasion, 
with  wliich  the  palace  was  going  to  be  choked  to  suffocation. 
All  voices  were  hushed,  all  arms  weary,  all  supplication  lost. 
They  went  in  search  of  Lamartine  :  he  came  out  once  more  ; 
he  came  upon  the  landing-place  of  the  first  storj',  where  some 
National  Guards,  some  pupils  of  the  Polytechnic  School,  and 
some  intrepid  citizens,  were  struggling  hand  to  hand  with  the 
invaders.  At  his  name  and  appearance  the  strife  ceased  for  a 
moment,  and  the  crowd  opened.  Lamartine  saw  the  steps  of 
the  great  staircase  covered  to  the  right  and  left  with  combatants, 
who  formed  a  hedge  of  steel  as  far  as  the  courts,  and  even  out 
upon  the  square  ;  —  some,  friendly  and  respectful,  shaking  his 
hand  and  loading  him  with  blessings ;  the  greater  number  irri- 
tated and  frowning,  their  brows  loaded  with  doubt,  their  looks 
full  of  suspicion,  their  gestures  threatening,  and  their  mutter- 
ings  bitter.  He  feigned  not  to  perceive  these  signs  of  anger. 
He  descended  to  a  level  with  the  great  interior  court,  where 
they  had  deposited  the  corpses,  and  where  a  forest  of  steel  was 
waving  over  the  heads  of  thousands  of  armed  men.  Thence 
a  broad  staircase  leads  down  to  the  left,  towards  the  great  gate 
of  Henry  IV.,  which  opens  on  the  place  de  Greve,  and  where 
the  people  were  half  swallowed  up.  It  was  here  that  the  tide 
of  invasion,  meeting  the  tide  of  defenders,  produced  the  great- 
est confusion,  tumult  and  shouting.  "  Lamartine  is  a  traitor  !  " 
"  Do  not  hear  Lamartine  I "  "  Down  with  the  beguiler  ! " 
"  To  the  lamp-post  with  traitors  !  "  "  The  head  —  the  head  of 
Lamartine  !  "  cried  some  madmen,  against  whose  weapons  he 
pressed  in  passing.  Lamartine  paused  a  moment  on  the  first 
flight,  and  looking  on  the  vociferators  with  a  steady  eye,  and  a 
slightly  sarcastic  but  not  irritating  smile,  replied :  "  My  head, 
citizens  ?  Would  to  God  that  you  all  had  it  at  this  moment  on 
your  shoulders  ;  you  would  be  calmer,  and  wiser,  and  the  work 
of  your  revolution  would  be  better  done."  At  these  words  the 
imprecations  changed  into  shouts  of  laughter,  and  the  threats 
of  death  into  shaking  of  hands.  Lamartine  vigorously  pushed 
away  one  of  the  leaders  who  opposed  his  going  to  speak  to  the 
people  in  the  square.  "  We  know  that  thou  art  brave  and 
honest,"  said  the  young  man,  "  with  a  seductive  figure  and  tragic 
gestures ;  but  thou  art  not  made  to  measure  thyself  with  the 
people.  Thou  wilt  lull  its  virtorj'  to  sleep ;  thou  art  but  a  lyre 
—  go  and  sing."     '  Leave  me,"  replied  Lamartine,   without 


160  .     HISTORY   OF   THE 

being  irritated  by  his  apostrophe  ;  "  the  people  have  my  head  in 
pledge ;  if  I  betray  them,  I  first  betray  myself.  You  shall  see 
whether  I  have  the  soul  of  a  poet,  or  that  of  a  citizen."  And  vio- 
lently disengaging  the  collar  of  his  coat  from  the  hands  which  de- 
tained him,  he  went  down,  harangued  the  people  in  the  square, 
brought  them  back  to  reason,  and  raised  them  to  enthusiasm.  The 
applauses  of  the  square  resounded  even  under  the  arches  of  the 
palace  ;  and  these  shouts  of  ten  thousand  voices  intimidated  the 
insurgents  within.  They  felt  that  the  people  were  for  Lamar- 
tine.  Lamartine  reentered,  and  went  up  stairs  again,  applauded 
and  stifled  with  the  embraces  of  the  very  men  who  demanded 
his  head  as  he  went  down. 

XVIl. 

But  while  this  agitation  was  subsiding  on  one  side  of  the 
Hotel  de  Vill^  it  was  fermenting  on  the  other.  Hardly  had 
Lamartine  reentered  the  cabinet  of  council  when  a  new  storm 
broke  forth,  and  an  assault  more  terrible  than  the  preceding 
ones  threatened  to  sweep  away  the  government. 

After  having  for  a  long  time  undulated  hither  and  thither, 
from  court  to  court,  from  square  to  square,  and  from  tribune  to 
tribune,  in  search  of  a  place  for  deliberation,  the  crowd  ended 
by  collecting  in  the  vast  hall  of  Saint  Jean,  a  kind  of  common 
forum  for  the  great  gatherings  of  the  capital,  and  in  the  hall  of 
council  prepared  for  solemn  deliberations. 

There,  on  an  estrade  converted  into  a  tribune,  by  the  light 
of  lamps  and  lustres  lit  up  as  in  the  theatre  of  a  real  drama, 
orators  succeeded  and  surpassed  each  other  in  violence,  one  after 
another.  They  were  agitating  the  question  of  a  choice  of  gov- 
ernment. "  Who  are  these  men,  unknown  to  the  people,  who 
glide  from  the  bosom  of  a  vanquished  Chamber  to  the  head  of  a 
victorious  people?  Where  are  their  titles  —  their  wounds? 
What  names  do  their  hands  show  ?  Are  they  black  with  pow- 
der, like  our  own  ?  Are  they  calloused,  like  yours,  brave  work- 
men, by  handling  tools  of  labor  ?  By  what  right  do  they  make 
their  decrees  ?  In  the  name  of  what  principle,  of  what  govern- 
ment, do  they  promulgate  them  ?  Are  they  republicans  ?  and 
of  what  kind  of  republic  ?  Are  they  masked  accomplices  of 
the  monarchy,  introduced  by  it  into  our  ranks,  in  order  to  stifle 
our  just  vengeance,  and  to  bring  us  back,  seduced  and  enchained, 
to  the  yoke  of  tlieir  barbarous  society  ?  Let  us  send  these  men 
back  to  their  source  :  they  wear  different  clothes  from  ours ; 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  161 

the/  speak  a  difTtrent  langtiage  ;  they  have  different  manners  : 
the33  worlcing-jackets,  or  these  rags  of  misery,  are  tlie  uniform 
of  the  people  Our  leaders  must  be  chosen  among  ourselves. 
Let  us  go  and  drive  those  away  whom  surprise  and  perfidy  have 
given  us." 

Others,  more  moderate  and  more  numerous,  said  :  "  Let  us 
listen  to  them  before  judging  and  proscribing  them.  Let  us  call 
them  hither  and  permit  them  to  explain  their  designs." 

Inexpressible  tumults  responded  within  and  without  the  hall, 
to  these  opposing  motions.  The  Hotel  de  Ville  seemed  threat- 
ened with  an  explosion. 

x\aii. 

Already  bands  detached  from  this  centre  of  agitation  had 
rushed  forward  upon  the  stairways ;  they  had  Overturned  and 
trampled  under  foot  the  sentinels,  attacked  the  guards,  invaded 
the  narrow  corridor  Avhich  led  to  the  double  door  of  the  cabi- 
net of  the  government.  Intrepid  citizens,  prodigal  of  their  lives 
for  the  protection  of  order,  had  preceded  them ;  they  came  to 
warn  the  council  of  the  peril  henceforth  impossible  to  conjure 
down.  But  Gamier  Pages,  Carnot,  Cremieux,  Marrast,  Lamar- 
tine,  aided  by  the  secretaries  and  some  of  the  citizens,  among 
whom  figured  in  the  first  rank  the  impassible  Bastide  and  the 
headstrong  Ernest  Gregoire,  barricade  the  door;  they  pile 
against  it,  in  order  to  increase  its  resistance,  sofas  and  furniture, 
heaAy  with  the  weight  of  several  men  standing  on  the  chairs 
and  arm-chairs.  All  in  the  room  press  their  shoulders  against 
this  fragile  rampart,  so  as  to  sustain  the  assault  and  the  weight 
of  the  assailants. 

Scarcely  had  they  taken  these  desperate'  precautions,  when 
they  heard  the  tumult,  the  shouts,  the  clashing  of  arms,  the 
defiances,  the  imprecations,  the  steps,  the  heavy  movements,  of 
the  column  in  the  outer  corridor.  Those  who  defend  it  are  thru-t 
aside  or  trampled  upon.  Butt-ends  of  muskets,  pommels  of 
sabres,  blows  of  the  fist,  sound  against  the  first  door.  The 
panes  of  glass  over  its  upper  part  shake,  crack,  and  jingle  upon 
the  slabs  of  the  pavement,  in  the  passage  between  the  two  folJ- 
ing-doors.  The  cracking  of  wood  shows  the  pressure  of  the 
crowd.  The  first  door  yields  and  bursts  into  splinters ;  the 
second  is  about  to  be  forced  in  the  same  manner.  A  low  and 
hurried  dialogue  ensues  between  the  assailants  and  the  mem- 
bers o'  the  goA-eniment      Marie,   Cremieux,  Gamier  Pages, 


162  HISTORY    05    THE 

their  colleagues,  their  friends,  refuse  obstinately  to  obey  the 
commands  of  the  invaders.  A  s  ort  of  capitulation  follows ; 
the  furniture  is  half  removed  ;  Ernest  Gregoire,  well  known  to 
both  camps,  partially  opens  the  door ;  he  announces  that  La- 
martine  is  going  to  confer  with  the  people,  that  he  is  going  forth 
to  harangue  it,  and  to  convince  it  of  the. intentions  of  the  gov- 
ernment. 

Upon  the  name  of  Lamartine,  at  that  time  a  charm  over  the 
people,  curses  changed  into  acclamations  of  confidence  and 
love.  Lamartine  glides  in  the  steps  of  Grtgoire,  of  Payer, 
and  yields  himself,  half  stifled  by  the  crowd,  to  the  ebb  and 
flow  of  this  multitude.  It  becomes  calm,  and  gradually  sus- 
pends its  convulsions  before  him.  His  lofty  stature  permits 
his  head  to  tower  above  it;  his  serene  countenance  pacifies  it; 
his  voice,  his  gestures,  make  it  open  or  recede.  A  counter- 
current  sets  in  and  bears  him  along-  throus^h  the  obscure  and 
unknown  labyrinth  of  corridors  and  flights  of  stairs,  as  far  as 
the  entrance  to  the  hall  of  popular  deliberations.  The  provis- 
ional government,  thus  momentarily  freed,  recloses  its  doors, 
stations  guards  and  sentinels,  and  fortifies  itself  against  fresh 
assaults,  uncertain  all  the  while  whether  Lamartine  would 
rise  victor,  or  remain  vanquished,  in  his  struggle  between  two 
peoples  and  two  governments. 

XIX. 

The  hall  overflowed  with  crowds  and  tumult.  A  dismal 
light,  gusts  of  warm  breath  exhaling  from  this  furnace  of  men, 
clamors,  now  smothered,  anon  harsh  and  loud,  issued  from  it. 
A  long  time  was  required  before  it  could  be  penetrated  by  La- 
martine and  the  group  which  accompanied  him. 

On  the  threshold  he  heard  the  voices  of  some  orators, 
who  were  announcing  him  to  the  multitude.  Those  voices 
were  now  covered  with  applause,  now  repulsed  by  terms  of  de- 
fiance, of  wrath  and  disdain.  —  Yes,  yes  !  —  No,  no  !  —  Let  us 
listen  to  Lamartine  !  —  Let 's  not  listen  to  Lamartine  !  —  Vive 
Lamartine  !  —  Down  with  Lamartine  !  These  outcries,  ac- 
companied by  undulations,  gestures,  stamping  with  the  feet, 
lifting  of  arms  above  the  head,  blows  with  the  butt-ends  of 
muskets  striking  the  floor,  almost  equally  contended  for  mas- 
tery in  the  audience. 

During  this  tumult  Lamartine  made  his  way  with  difllculty 
through  the  dense  crowd  at  the  door ;  he  v  as  lifted  forward  by 


REVOLUTION   OP   1848. 


16 


vigorous  arms  as  far  as  the  foot  of  the  little  Jiner  staircase, 
which  led  to  the  top  of  an  estrade,  serving  as  a  kind  of  tribune, 
from  which  the  people  were  addressed.  The  ;ihades  of  night, 
imperfectly  dispersed  by  a  few  gleams  of  light  at  the  centre 
of  the  hall,  the  gas  of  lighted  lamps  at  his  feet,  thickening  the 
air,  the  smoke  of  musket-shots  fired  all  day  in  the  courts, 
and  penetrating  thence  by  the  windows,  the  species  of  mist 
which  the  feverish  perspiration  and  panting  breath  of  a  thou- 
sand men  diffused  throughout  the  hall,  prevented  him  from 
clearly  discovering,  and  have  ever  since  prevented  him  from 
distinctly  retracing,  that  scene.  He  only  remembers  that  he 
rose  above  an  agitated  crowd  at  his  feet ;  their  countenances, 
pale  with  emotion,  and  blackened  with  powder,  were  lit  up 
only  at  the  foot  of  the  estrade,  and  were  turned  towards  him 
with  various  expressions.  With  the  exception  of  two  of  those 
countenances,  all  were  unknown  to  him;  one  was  the  face, 
strongly  marked  with  resolution,  of  an  old  aid-de-camp  of 
Lafayette,  Sarrans,  at  once  the  writer,  soldier  and  orator  of 
liberty :  the  other  was  that  of  Coste,  former  editor  of  the 
journal  Le  Temps,  whom  Lamartine  had  previously  known  at 
Rome ;  this  face  appeared,  after  ten  years,  as  that  of  an  im- 
passioned auditor  of  a  new  forum  below  these  new  rostra. 

Beyond  the  first  ranks  of  the  spectators  who  stood  around, 
the  glimmering  light,  fading  away  into  shadow,  revealed  on 
the  floor  at  the  further  end,  around  and  upon  the  steps  that 
rose  against  the  walls  of  the  hall,  nothing  but  agitated  and 
numberless  shadows,  which  moved  about  in  the  obscurity. 
Only  the  sabres,  the  barrels  of  muskets,  the  bayonets  reflecting 
here  and  there  the  brightness  of  the  lamps  on  the  polished 
metal,  flashed  like  fire-works  over  the  heads  of  the  multitude 
at  each  shuddering  emotion  of  the  audience. 

Contradictory  cries,  feverish,  frantic,  were  uttered  at  every 
movement  by  these  thousands  of  mouths  ;  a  real  storm  of  men, 
where  every  wind  of  opinion  that  passed  over  the  crowd  drew 
from  each  fresh  wave  a  roaring-  of  voices. 

Lamartme,  cast  as  it  were  upon  the  estrade  as  on  a  cape 
advanced  into  the  midst  of  this  swelling  sea,  contemplated 
it,  uncertain  whether  it  would  sustain  him  or  engulf  him. 
Many  orators,  pressing  round  him  to  the  7ight  and  left,  and  up 
to  the  steps  of  this  sort  of  tribune,  disputed  his  speaking  by 
word  and  act.  They  uttered,  confusedly,  addresses  and  short 
incendiary  inquiries  to  the  assembly  ;  I  ut  Lamartine,  having 
succeeded  in  removing  these  oratorical  rivals  by  the  exertion 


164  HISTORY   OF    THE 

of  hand  and  sho'Jder,  and  appearing  at  last  alone  and  free  be- 
fore the  eyes  of  the  people,  a  silence,  broken  by  murmurs, 
vociferations,  and  bitter  apostrophes,  was  finally  established  by 
degrees.     He  attempted  to  speak. 

XX. 

"  Citizens,"  cried  he,  with  the  full  power  of  a  voice  whose 
energy  the  danger  of  the  country  doubled,  "  behold  me  here 
ready  to  reply  to  you.     Why  have  you  summoned  me  ?  " 

"  To  know  by  what  right  you  constitute  yourself  a  govern- 
ment of  the  people,  and  to  understand  whether  we  have  to  do 
with  traitors,  tyrants,  or  citizens  worthy  of  the  soul  of  the 
revolution,"  replied  some  voices  from  the  midst  of  the  audi- 
tory. 

"  By  what  right  we  constitute  ourselves  a  government  ? " 
replied  Lamartine,  advancing  and  uncovering  himself  boldly 
to  eyes,  arms  and  murmurs,  like  a  man  who  surrenders  by 
laying  down  his  weapons.  "  By  right  of  the  blood  that 
flows,  the  fire  which  devours  your  edifices,  the  people  without 
guides,  and  to-morrow  perhaps  without  bread  !  the  right  of  the 
most  devoted  and  the  most  courageous  !  nay,  since  it  must  be 
spoken,  citizens,  the  right  of  those  who  were  the  first  to  sur- 
render their  hearts  to  suspicion,  their  blood  to  the  scaffold, 
their  heads  to  the  vengeance  of  people  or  kings,  to  save  their 
nation.  Do  you  envy  us  this  right?  You  all  possess  it  —  as- 
sume it  as  we  do  !  We  do  not  contest  it  with  you.  You  are 
all  worthy  of  devoting  yourselves  to  the  common  safety.  We 
have  no  title  but  that  derived  from  our  consciences  and  your 
dangers.  But  the  people,  falling  from  a  government  into  an 
interregnum,  require  chiefs.  The  voices  of  this  people,  victo- 
rious and  trembling  for  their  victory  in  the  very  heart  of  battle, 
have  designated  us,  called  us  by  name,  and  we  have  obeyed 
the  summons.  Would  you,  then,  prolong  an  election,  terrible 
and  impossible,  in  the  midst  of  fire  and  blood,  —  you  are  the 
masters ;  but  the  fire  and  blood  will  be  upon  your  heads,  and 
the  nation  will  curse  you." 

"No!  no!"  cried  voices  already  touched  and  recalled  by 
this  abandonment  of  all  legal  right,  and  by  this  invocation  to 
the  sole  right  of  devotion.  "  Yes  !  yes  !  "  replied  other  and 
more  obstinate  vc;  ices,  "  they  have  no  right  to  rule  us.  They 
do  not  belong  to  -he  people ;  they  do  not  come  from  the  barri- 
cades.    They  cane  out  of  that  venal  assembly,  where  they 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848. 


165 


have  breathed  an  atmosphere  poisoned  by  corruption."  "  They 
have  protested  against  corruption,"  said  some.  "  They  defended 
the  cause  of  the  people  there,"  said  others.  "  Well,  let  them 
declare,  at  least,  what  sort  of  a  government  they  pretend  to  give 
us,"  cried  the  most  moderate.  "  We  have  overthrown  the 
monarchy  —  we  have  won  a  republic ;  let  Lamartine  explain 
whether  or  no  he  will  give  us  the  republic." 

At  this  interrogatory,  which  came  from  every  part  of  the 
throng  assembled  in  the  hall,  Lamartine  assumed  that  half 
smile  which  has  the  air  of  retaining  a  slightly  sceptical  inde- 
cision on  the  lips,  an  expression  of  countenance  which  seems 
to  provoke  an  audience  to  extract  the  last  secret  of  the  listener's 
heart. 

"  The  republic,  citizens,"  said  he,  at  last,  in  a  tone  of  solemn 
interrogation,  ^  "  who  has  uttered  the  word  republic  ?  " — "  Every 
one  !  every  one  ! "  replied  hundreds  of  voices,  and  thousands 
of  hands  waving  their  weapons  over  their  heads,  in  token  of 
their  wishes  and  their  joy.  —  "  The  republic,  citizens ! "  resumed 
Lamartine,  with  a  more  pensive  and  almost  melancholy  gravity. 
"  Know  you  what  you  demand  ?  Do  you  know  what  a  repub- 
lican government  is  ?"  —  "  Tell  us,  tell  us,"  was  the  answer  on 
all  hands.  —  "  The  republic  ! "  continued  Lamartine.  "  Do  you 
know  that  it  is  the  government  of  the  universal  mind,  and  do 
you  feel  yourself  ripe  enough  to  have  no  other  masters  than 
yourselves,  and  no  other  government  than  your  own  reason  ? 
—  "  Yes,  yes,"  said  the  people.  —  "  The  republic  !  Do  you 
know  that  it  is  'the  government  of  justice,  and  do  you  feel 
sufficiently  just  to  do  right  even  to  your  enemies?" 

'•  Yes  !  yes  !  yes  I "  repeated  the  people,  with  an  accent  of 
self-esteem  and  consciousness  in  their  voice.  —  "The  republic  !" 
resumed  Lamartine.  "  Do  you  know  that  it  is  the  govern- 
ment of  virtue,  and  do  you  feel  yourselves  virtuous  enough, 
magnanimous  enough,  clement  enough,  to  sacrifice  yourself  for 
others;  to  forget  injuries,  to  look  without  envy  on  the  happy, 
to  forc-ive  your  enemies ;  to  disarm  your  hearts  of  these  sen- 
tences of  death,  these  proscriptions,  these  scafTolds,  which  have 
dishonored  this  name  under  the  popular  tyranny  that  was 
called  by  the  false  name  of  the  republic  half  a  century  ago, 
and  to  reconcile  France  with  this  name  at  the  present  day?  — 
Question  yourselves,  search  yourselves,  and  yourselves  pro- 
nounce your  own  sentence  or  your  own  glory  ! "  * 

*  The  notes  of  these  dialog:ues  were  taken  on  the  spot,  and  furnished  teilu- 
ally  to  the  author,  by  two  bystanders,  MM.  Sarraus  aiid  Ernest  Gr*j.'oire. 

lo 


166  HISTORY   OF    THE 

"  Yes,  yes,  yes !  we  feel  ourselves  capable  of  all  these  vir- 
tues," cried,  with  unanimoas  enthusiasm,  these  voices,  which 
united  in  an  almost  religious  tone  at  the  voice  of  the  orator.  — 
"  Do  you  feel  it  ?  Do  you  swear  it  ?  Do  you  invoke  as  a 
witness  that  God  who  manifests  himself,  in  hours  like  this,  by 
the  cry  and  the  instinct  of  the  people  ?"  continued  Lamartine, 
pausing  as  if  waiting  a  reply.  A  thunder  of  affirmation 
responds  to  his  gesture.  "  Ah  !  well,"  said  he,  "  it  is  you  who 
have  said  it.  You  shall  have  a  republic  !  if  you  are  as  worthy 
to  preserve  it  as  you  have  been  heroic  in  gaining  it."  The 
hall,  the  courts,  the  arches,  which  extend  under  the  vestibules, 
tremble  with  the  prolonged  echo  of  the  applause. 

" But  let  us  understand  ourselves,"  continues  Lamar- 
tine ;  "  we  desire  the  republic ;  but  we  should  be  unworthy  the 
name  of  republicans,  if  we  designed  to  commence  liberty  by 
tyranny,  or  to  deprive  the  government  of  liberty,  equality,  jus- 
tice, religion,  and  virtue,  as  it  were,  by  theft  in  a  night  of 
sedition  and  confusion  like  this.  We  have  but  one  right,  that 
of  declaring  our  opinion,  our  wishes,  to  the  people  of  Paris; 
that  of  taking  the  glorious  initiative  in  the  government  of  lib- 
erty brought  about  by  the  age,  and  of  saying  to  the  country 
and  to  the  world,  that  we  take  upon  ourselves  the  responsibility 
of  proclaiming  a  provisional  republic  as  the  government  of  the 
country ;  but  leaving  to  the  country,  to  its  thirty-six  millions 
of  souls,  who  are  not  here  present,  and  who  have  the  same 
right  as  ourselves  to  consent,  to  prefer  or  to  repudiate,  this  or 
that  form  of  constitution  ;  reserving  to  them,*I  say,  that  which 
belongs  to  them,  as  our  preferences  belong  to  ourselves,  namely, 
the  expression  of  their  sovereign  will  by  universal  suffrage,  the 
first  truth  and  only  foundation  of  every  national  republic  !" 

"  Yes,  yes,  it  is  right !  it  is  right ! "  reply  the  people. 
"  France  is  not  here.  Paris  is  the  head  ;  but  Paris  ought  to 
guide,  and  not  oppress,  the  members." 

"  Vive  la  republique  !  Vive  le  goiivernement  provisoire  ! 
Vive  Lamartine  !  Let  the  provisional  government  save  us  ;  it 
is  worthy  of  its  command.  To  choose  another  would  divide 
the  people,  and  offer  an  opportunity  for  tyranny  to  return." 

At  these  cries,  Lamartine  descends  in  triumph  from  the 
estrade,  in  the  midst  of  unanimous  applause.  He  reestablished 
order;  he  stationed  the  posts,  sentinels,  and  cannon  in  the 
courts;  he  asceided,  assured  of  the  confidence  of  the  people, 
and  the  unity  o<'  the  provisional  government. 


REVOLUI.ON    OF    1848.  167 


XXI. 


Daring  his  absence,  his  colleagues,  Marie  and  Gamier  Pages, 
assisted  by  Pagnerre,  Flottard,  Bastide,  Payer,  Barthtlemy  St. 
Hilaire,  Marrast,  and  a  group  of  bold  and  indefatigable  citizens, 
continued  to  provide  for  circumstances  with  the  energy  of  a 
government  unquestioned  and  everywhere  present.  Numerous 
decrees  resolved  upon  with  the  rapidity  of  thought,  and  with 
the  vigor  of  will  that  disconcerts  resistance,  had  been  passed 
in  a  few  hours  after  the  reunion  of  the  government.  This 
government  defended  itself  with  one  hand  and  organized  with 
the  other.  Ministers  had  been  nominated  ;  generals  appointed; 
orders  flew  over  all  the  roads  of  France  and  the  colonies,  to 
regulate  the  revolution  and  to  prevent  civil  war. 

Arago  considered  the  fleet.  A  minister  obeyed  by  the  sole 
authority  of  his  name,  matured  for  command,  inaccessible  to 
the  umbrage  and  repugnance  of  parties,  he  had  no  fear  of  pro- 
voking the  murmurs  of  the  exclusive  republicans,  by  appoint- 
ing Admiral  Baudin  to  the  command  of  the  fleet  of  Toulon. 
Without  inquiring  what  gratitude  and  regret  for  the  princes 
of  the  fallen  dynasty  that  officer  might  cherish  in  his  heart,  he 
trusted  to  the  patriotism  of  the  soldier.  The  government  rati- 
fied his  choice  without  hesitation.  By  the  combined  orders  of 
the  minister  of  war,  Subervie,  and  Arago,  officers  of  the  navy 
and  army  already  hastened  towards  the  Mediterranean  and 
Algiers,  to  demand  obedience  from  our  fleets  and  armies ;  and 
from  the  princes  themselves,  who  commanded  them,  the  recog- 
nition of  the  government  which  had  dethroned  their  family. 

Instructed  by  history  and  experience  as  to  the  irresistible 
influence  which  the  sovereign  idea  of  the  unity  of  his  country 
exercises  over  the  French  soldier,  the  members  of  the  govern- 
ment did  not  doubt  that  their  orders  would  be  everywhere 
obeyed. 

Nevertheless,  the  Prince  de  Joinville,  loved  by  the  sailors, 
commanded  a  squadron  at  sea.  The  Duke  of  Aumale  and  the 
Duke  of  Montpensier  commanded  a  hundred  thousand  men  in 
Algiers.  The  south  was  royalist.  The  navy  might  unite  with 
the  army  and  the  princes,  and  bring  back  to  Toulon  an  army 
of  sixty  thousand  men  in  a  few  days.  The  king,  of  whose  de- 
signs they  were  yet  igrorant,  might  retire  towards  Lille,  call  to 
him  the  armies  of  Palis,  of  the  North  and  of  the  Rhine,  and 
thus  close,  in  a  few  da /s,  the  capital  and  the  hear!  of  France, 
between  two  civil  wars. 


163  ,  HISTORY    OF    THE 

The  government  faced  these  possibilities  with  a  firm  look, 
determined  to  anticipate  them  by  the  rapidity  of  its  measures, 
or  to  vanquish  them  by  the  prompt  organization  of  the  republi- 
can forces  in  Paris.  Success  did  not  even  seem  doubtful. 
Against  all  the  hesitation  of  the  colonies  and  provinces,  there 
was  enough  enthusiasm  in  Paris  to  have  raised  the  whole 
country  under  the  very  footsteps  of  the  court  and  the  troops. 
Changes  of  government  in  France  are  explosions,  and  not  cam- 
paigns. There  are  never  two  spirits  at  once  in  this  great 
people.  Revolutions  among  them  are  sudden  ;  long  civil  wars 
impossible.  This  is  at  once  the  weakness  of  government  and 
the  strength  of  the  nation. 

While  the  small  number  of  members  of  the  government 
remainingf  during  the  nig-ht  on  the  battle-ground  of  the  Hotel 
de  Ville  thus  carried  out  the  measures  concerted  in  the  even- 
ing with  their  colleagues,  the  minister  of  the  interior,  M.  Ledru 
RoUin,  surrounded  by  the  combatants  of  the  three  days,  hurried 
through  the  capital,  rallying  to  the  sup)port  of  the  government 
the  conspirators  of  the  republican  party.  He  pacified  them  by 
the  victory.  He  charged  them  to  carry  the  news  to  their 
brethren  of  the  departments.  He  organized  his  ministry ; 
nominated,  in  haste,  the  first  commissioners  sent  from  Paris  to 
replace  the  prefects  of  the  monarchy,  or  to  acknowledge  the 
provisional  administrators  which  the  towns  had  themselves 
appointed  at  the  first  report  of  the  revolution. 

Caussidiere,  Louis  Blanc,  Albert,  Flocon,  each  bringing  to 
the  new  power  the  portion  of  influence  and  the  mass  of  follow- 
ers which  their  party  gave  them  among  the  different  ranks  of 
the  people,  grouped  themselves  round  the  minister  of  the  inte- 
rior. Caussidiere,  thrown  upon  the  prefecture  of  police,  with 
an  armed  and  confused  crowd  of  five  or  six  thousand  men  of 
the  sections,  disputed  for  a  moment  the  revolutionary  authority 
of  Sobrier.  Both,  still  with  sword  in  hand,  their  faces  covered 
with  the  smoke  of  the  combat,  with  fire  in  their  eyes,  and  blood 
on  their  garments,  bivouacked,  with  the  companions  of  their 
struggle,  in  the  courts  and  streets  adjacent  to  the  prefecture. 
They  kept  their  soldiers  under  arms.  They  guarded  their 
banners,  only  recognizing  the  provisional  government  with 
hesitation  and  murmuring.  They  reserved  to  themselves  the 
power  of  obeying  or  resisting  its  orders.  They  appeared  to 
wish  to  fortif}''  themselves  in  this  post,  and  not  to  disband  the 
troops  of  the  revolution,  armed  by  their  hands.  But  at  the 
same  time,  while  they  preserved  the  nucleus  of  the  combatants 


REVOLUTION   OF    18-13.  169 

of  February  around  them,  they  employed  with  energy  their 
ascendency  over  these  pretorians  of  the  revolution,  far  better 
disciplined  and  more  intrepid  than  the  masses,  to  extinguish 
the  fire,  to  disarm  the  people,  to  punish  individual  attempts 
against  persons  and  property;  an  arbitrary  police,  absolute,  ir- 
resistible, constituted  by  the  very  persons  against  whom  had 
been  exercised  for  fifteen  years  the  police  of  royalty. 

This  camp  of  the  prefecture  of  police,  with  its  burning  fires, 
its  stacks  of  arms,  its  soldiers  in  rags,  torn  and  stained  with 
blood,  its  barricades  illuminated  at  the  top  with  lamps,  its 
sentries,  its  advanced  guards,  its  detachments  entering  and 
departing  on  rapid  expeditions,  ruled  by  the  colossal  form,  the 
abrupt  gesture,  and  the  broken  yet  bellowing  voice  of  Caussi- 
diere,  offered  the  true  image  of  this  commencement  of  order, 
coming  still  with  disorder,  out  of  the  chaos  of  a  demolished 
society. 

Some  members  of  the  government  were  alarmed  at  the 
neighborhood  of  this  camp,  and  the  monarchical  rivalry  for  the 
government  of  Paris  disputed  between  the  mayor  of  Paris 
and  the  new  prefect  of  police.  Lamartine  did  not  partake  these 
disquietudes.  He  went  alone  into  the  midst  of  the  camp  of  the 
mountaineers.  He  saw  from  the  face  of  these  men,  he  under- 
stood from  their  discourse,  that  they  were  at  once  the  instru- 
ments of  an  accomplished  revolution  and  of  a  new  order  of 
society  to  be  created.  The  soldier-like  but  humane  energy  of 
Caussidiere  pleased  him.  He  saw  that  this  party  chieftain 
had  a  heart  as  generous  as  his  hand  was  strong.  He  believed 
that  his  artifice  took  nothing  from  his  honesty;  that  he  was 
satisfied  and  proud  of  the  victory.  But  as  this  very  pride  made 
it  a  point  of  honor  with  him  to  restrain  every  excess,  he  re- 
solved to  sustain  Caussidiere  in  this  half  submission,  which, 
granting  him  a  kind  of  supremacy  over  disorder,  engaged  him 
more  surely  to  quell  it. 

Caussidiere,  on  his  part,  with  that  instinctive  diplomacy 
more  able  than  acquired  ability,  affected  in  his  relations  with 
government  at  once  a  deference  and  independence,  which  left 
things  to  fluctuate  between  complete  obedience  and  secret  in- 
surrection. Thus,  Lamartine  showed  himself  from  the  first 
day  openly  disposed  to  yield  to  Caussidiere  everything  he  de- 
manded, as  to  authority,  men,  ammunition  and  powder,  to 
compose  for  himself  a  force  of  high  police,  consisting  of  two 
or  three  thousand  chosen  troops ;  to  constitute  them,  during  the 
general  want  of  all  repressive  force,  the  temporary  pretorians 
15* 


170  HISTORY    OF   THE 

of  public  order  in  Paris.  Little  did  it  matter  to  him  that  this 
order  was  formed  of  discordant  elements,  and  bore  the  name 
of  Caussidiere  or  the  name  of  the  mayor  of  Paris,  provided 
the  revolution  was  not  dishonored  by  crimes,  and  that  the  peo- 
ple did  not  taste  that  blood  for  which  it  thirsted,  and  had  not 
been  satisfied  at  the  beginning  of  the  revolution. 

,  XXII. 

It  was  from  the  same  inspiration  that  he  proposed  to  his  col- 
leagues another  measure,  which  appeared  at  first  sight  the 
greatest  rashness,  but  which  was  in  fact  the  height  of  prudence. 

The  day  had  gone  down  upon  that  tumultuous  army  of  peo- 
ple, wandering,  to  the  sounds  of  musket-shots  and  songs  of 
victory,  round  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  This  people,  hungry  for 
liberty,  began  to  be  hungry  for  bread.  Some  citizens,  in 
alarm,  came  to  speak  to  Lamartine  of  the  state  of  the  town, 
of  the  disturbances  of  the  morrow,  and  of  the  pangs  of  the 
future.  He  rose  from  the  seat  where  he  was  occupied  in  draft- 
ing proclamations  to  the  people  and  army,  and  followed  these 
citizens  into  a  neighboring  apartment,  from  which  a  window 
opened  on  the  place  de  Greve,  and  allowed  the  eye  to  see  the 
outlets  of  the  streets  of  the  faubourg  du  Temple,  of  the  fau- 
bourg du  Saint-Antoine,  and  the  bridges  and  quays  which  ex- 
tend to  the  faubourg  Saint-Marceau.  There  was  an  ocean  of 
men  under  the  whirlwind  of  all  the  passions  of  a  day  of  bat- 
tle. There  was  in  this  multitude  enough  to  recruit  ten  revo- 
lutions. 

Lamartine  was  struck  with  the  calm  countenance,  at  once 
enthusiastic  and  religious,  of  the  immense  majority  of  the 
people  among  the  grown  men  and  the  workmen  of  mature 
ages.  He  understood  that  it  was  no  longer  the  people  of 
1793;  that  a  spirit  of  intelligence  and  order  had  penetrated 
these  masses,  and  that  reason,  expressed  by  speech,  would  find 
in  the  soul  of  these  men  an  echo,  in  their  arm  a  force. 

But  he  saw  floating  here  and  there,  in  the  midst  of  these 
serious  groups,  another  mass,  movable,  turbulent,  light  as 
foam ;  they  were  children  or  youths  from  twelve  to  twenty 
years  of  age,  thoughtless  by  nature,  undisciplined  from  their 
constant  wandering  about  the  capital,  irresponsible  for  theii 
acts  from  their  youth  and  levity,  without  chief  and  without 
cause,  always  ready  to  take  the  first  comer  for  their  chief,  and 
the  first  disorder  for  their  cause. 


RET  JLUTION    OF    1843. 


171 


He  foresaw  with'dreid  the  terrible  complications  of  misery, 
passion  and  commotion,  which  this  mass  of  young  people,  es- 
caped from  the  work-shops,  not  finding  them  reopened,  would 
bring  upon  Paris,  if  the  republic  did  not  seize  them  at  the  first 
hour,  to  assist  them  by  its  pay,  to  embody  them  among  its  forces, 
and  range  them  on  the  side  of  good  citizens.  He  judged,  at  a 
glance,  that  their  number  was  from  twenty  to  twenty-five 
thousand.  A  shudder  of  anticipated  terror  thrilled  him.  A 
flash  of  foresight  and  resolution  illuminated  his  mind.  These 
twenty-five  thousand  children  of  Paris,  left  in  the  ranks  of  the 
insurgent  people,  would  become  an  irresistible  element  of  per- 
manent sedition.  Tiie  National  Guard,  formed  from  a  single 
class  of  citizens,  rich  and  settled,  was  about  to  be  disbanded  in 
fact  for  many  months ;  the  equality  of  the  right  of  suffrage 
was  about  to  be  extended  by  the  bayonet.  The  army,  tem- 
porarily suspected  by  the  people,  against  whom  it  had  just 
fought,  could  not  reenter  Paris  without  rekindling  civil  war. 
It  was  necessary  that  the  capital,  of  its  own  accord,  should  in- 
vite it  to  an  honorable  and  safe  reconciliation,  when  the  city 
was  itself  armed  with  its  two  hundred  thousand  National 
Guards.  This  absence  of  the  army,  this  disappearance  of  the 
decimated  Municipal  Guard,  this  forced  recomposition  of  the 
new  National  Guard,  its  control,  its  elections,  its  equipment, 
would  leave  Paris  for  an  indeterminate  space  of  time  to  its 
own  mercy.  Civil  war  in  the  provinces,  the  possible  invasion 
of  the  frontiers,  might  call  for  sudden  recruits.  Lamartine 
calculated,  at  a  glance,  that  these  twenty-five  thousand  young 
people,  abandoned  to  vagrancy  and  sedition,  or  these  twenty-five 
thousand  young  soldiers,  enrolled  under  the  discipline  and  power 
of  the  government,  would  make  a  real  difference  of  fifty  thou- 
sand men  for  the  cause  of  order,  against  the  cause  of  anarchy. 
He  reentered.  He  presented  in  two  words  these  rapid  consid- 
erations to  his  colleagues.  They  felt  them  without  discussing 
♦hem.  A  nod  of  the  head  was  the  only  vote  in  these  emer- 
gencies. The  numerous  decrees,  signed  in  three  hours,  had 
exhausted  the  council-board.  Payer  handed  him  a  strip  of 
common  paper,  torn  from  a  leaf  already  half  written  over,  and 
Lamartine  drafted  the  decree  which  instituted  a  body  compris- 
ing twenty-four  battalions  of  the  garde^vwhile,  and  passed  the 
paper  to  his  colleagues.  They  signed  it.  The  same  night  the 
enlisting  was  commenced. 

These  youth,  throwing  themselves  in  crowds  into  this  first 
corps  of  the  republic,  proud  of  its  name,  soon  became  worthy 
of  its  part  in  the  foundation  of  liberty. 


172  HISTORY   OF   THE 

The  force  destined  to  support  and  repress  the  revolution 
was  thus  drawn  from  the  revolution  itself;  true  army  of  a 
warlike  people,  enrolled  hy  enthusiasm,  recruited  by  misery, 
disciplined  by  its  own  spirit,  clothed  partly  in  rags,  and  defend- 
ing the  gates  and  the  property  of  a  luxurious  city.  The  garde 
mobile  must  save  Paris  from  disorder  for  four  months,  and  save 
society  from  disorder  on  the  fifth  month.  Its  creation  was  the 
presage  of  the  safety  of  the  republic  in  the  contests  of  June. 
It  has  since  experienced  the  ingratitude  of  the  citizens  for 
whom  it  shed  its  blood. 

XXIII. 

Thus,  in  a  few  hours,  contending  with  the  commotions,  the 
shocks,  assaults  and  menaces,  of  a  reviving  insurrection,  in  the 
midst  of  a  palace  occupied  by  twenty  thousand  men,  armed, 
divided,  agitated  and  torn  by  conflicting  opinions,  the  provis- 
ional government,  making  use  of  every  moment,  fathoming 
every  abyss,  watching  every  gleam  of  public  safety,  seizing  on 
all  the  threads  of  the  woof  of  annihilated  authority,  had 
caused  to  be  recognized  in  itself  that  dictatorial  authority,  the 
first  and  last  instinct  of  a  dissolved  society.  It  had  defended, 
by  its  usurped  power,  usurped  over  anarchy,  the  supreme 
power  of  the  nation.  It  had  frustrated,  by  force  of  audacity, 
all  attempts  of  the  insurgents  to  substitute  any  other  govern- 
ment for  its  own.  It  had  prevented  all  possibility  of  the  re- 
turn of  the  government  recently  overthrowa  in  Paris.  It  had 
caused  the  firing  to  cease ;  it  had  opened  the  barricades ;  it 
had  extinguished  the  conflagration,  reestablished  the  communi- 
cations of  Paris  with  the  provinces,  informed  and  astonished 
the  departments  by  the  promptness  of  its  decisions,  created 
new  magistrates  for  the  people,  confirmed  the  old  ones,  de- 
spatched its  agents,  received  the  obedience  of  the  troops,  pro- 
vided for  the  subsistence  of  Paris,  nominated  the  ministers, 
reorganized  the  municipal  police,  dissolved  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  suspended  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  proclaimed  its  will, 
and  that  of  the  people  of  Paris,  to  change  the  monarchy  into 
a  republic  under  the  ratification  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  peo- 
ple, instituted  the  Republican  Guard  for  the  strength  of  the 
police,  and  the  Garde  Mobile  for  the  strength  of  society,  ap- 
pointed generals,  caused  the  forts  to  be  occupied,  received  the 
submission  of  Vincennes,  and  preserved  that  arsenal.  It  had, 
in  fine,  succored  the  wounded,  and  guaranteed  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Tuileries,  by  converting  them  for  the  time  into  a 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  173 

hospitnl  for  the  people ;  ordered  the  enlargement  of  the  body 
of  the  National  Guard ;  enlisted  the  people,  that  civic  force, 
the  only  one  then  possible;  it  had  caused  religion  and  property 
to  be  respected,  proclaimed  the  fusion  and  harmony  of  the  dif- 
ferent classes,  under  the  name  of  fraternity,  and  almost 
changed  into  a  peaceful  and  secure  night,  the  night  of  anarchy, 
civil  war,  conflagration,  pillage  and  death,  which  promised  the 
citizens  the  overthrow  of  every  power.  Sixty-two  proclama- 
tions, deliberations,  orders  or  decrees,  passed  in  a  few  hours, 
and  executed  by  the  zeal  and  courage  of  the  citizens  who 
offere  1  themselves  as  auxiliaries  to  the  government,  produced 
and  established  these  results  before  midnight. 

XXIV. 

The  weariness  of  the  people,  who  had  been  standing  for  the 
last  twenty-four  hours,  the  coolness  of  the  government,  and 
the  last  eflt)rt  of  Lamartine,  had  succeeded  in  clearing  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  and  the  Greve  of  the  tumultuous  crowds  with 
which  it  had  been  besieged  during  the  morning.  The  men 
who  wished  the  tyranny  of  a  government  of  victory  and  of 
the  commune  of  Paris,  vanquished  by  the  good  sense  of  the 
people,  and  the  acclamations  which  had  followed  Lamar- 
tine, renounced  for  that  night  their  designs.  The  enthusiasm 
had  swept  away  everything,  even  to  the  thought  of  resistance. 
They  had  even  themselves  partaken  of  it.  They  retired 
mingling  their  applause  with  their  murmurs.  The  dream  of  a 
government  tumultuous  and  violent  as  the  element  whence  it 
came  had  escaped  them  as  a  prey,  at  the  very  moment  when 
they  thought  they  had  seized  it.  They  went  to  conspire  during 
that  night  openly  to  wrest  it  by  force  in  the  morning.  Neither 
Lamartine,  nor  the  members  of  the  government,  a  few  of  whom 
remained  with  him  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  suspected  this  re- 
turn, so  near  and  so  menacing  of  the  perils  which  they  had 
just  conjured  down. 

XXV. 

Overcome  with  fatigue,  exhausted  in  voice ;  without  other 
couch  for  the  repose  of  their  bodies  than  the  floor  of  the  council- 
hall  ;  without  other  food  to  refresh  their  strength  than  a  morsel 
of  bread,  broken  among  them  upon  the  table  where  they  toiled; 
without  o*ber  drink  than  some  drops  of  wine  remaining  from 
the  break  "dst  of  a  door-keeper  of  the  prefect  of  Paris,  and  drank 


174  HISTORY    OF    T/.S 

out  of  a  broken  piece  of  delf-ware  picked  up  from  among  the 
rubbish  of  the  palace,  they  began,  at  last,  to  breathe,  reviewing 
what  they  had  already  done,  and  forgetting  what  remained  for 
them  to  do. 

The  members  of  the  government  retired,  successively,  one 
by  one.  The  feUow-laborers,  who  seconded  them  with  all  their 
courage  and  their  zeal,  Buchez,  Pagnerre,  Barthelemy  Saint- 
Hilaire,  Recurt,  Flottard,  Payer,  Bastide,  Flocon,  and  fifty  or 
sixty  other  bold  citizens,  remained,  and  provided  with  inspiration 
for  all  the  secondary  wants  recurring  every  minute.  But  the 
great  affairs  were  momentarily  accomplished.  Others  lay  con- 
cealed under  the  shades  of  night.  Marie  and  Lamartine  de- 
termined to  share  the  last  watches  of  this  night,  and  to  go,  in 
turn,  to  reassure  their  families,  for  a  moment,  before  returning 
to  take  their  post  where  the  morning  prepared  for  them  new 
assaults. 

Lamartine  thus  went  out  at  midnight  from  the  Hotel  de 
j  Ville,  without  being  recognized.      He  was  accompanied    by 

I  Payer,  Ernest  Gregoire,  and  Doctor  Faivre,  bold  companions 

I  of  the  dangers  of  the  day,  whom  he  did  not  know  a  few  hours 

I  before.     He  had  seen  them  in  the  fire  of  the  revolution.     That 

j  was  sufficient  to  attach  these  citizens  to  one  another.     Such 

hours  reveal  the  character  of  men  more  than  years  of  ordinary 
acquaintance. 
j  The  night  was  stormy  and  dark.     The  damp  wind  drove 

the  heavy  clouds  through  the  sky,  and  the  smoke  rising  from 
the  lamps  on  the  crest  of  the  barricades,  and  caused  the  vanes 
and  iron  mouths  of  the  chimneys  to  groan  upon  the  roofs.  At 
the  entrance  of  every  street,  the  voluntary  sentinels  of  the 
j  people  watched,  with  loaded  muskets  in  their  hands,  with  no 

I  other  watchword  than  their  spontaneous  zeal  to  defend  the  se- 

curity of  their  quarter.  They  said  they  we»e  guarding  their 
own  honor,  for  fear  that  crime  should  disgrace  their  victory. 

From  space  to  space  were  found  large  fires  burning,  round 
which  bivouacked,  on  a  little  straw,  groups  of  sleeping  com- 
batants. Their  sentinels  obeyed,  like  disciplined  soldiers,  the 
chiefs  who  .1  they  had  chosen  by  instinct,  or  recognized  by  the 
proof  of  moral  superiority.  No  disorder,  no  tumult,  no  men- 
acing vociferation,  no  abuse,  saddened  these  assemblies.  They 
demanded,  with  politeness,  the  countersigns  from  the  citizens 
who  passed  them.  They  informed  themselves  of  the  news  of 
the  hour  —  the  resolutims  and  decrees  of  the  government. 
They  applauded  the  name  of  republic.     They  swore  to  defend 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  175 

and  to  honor  it  by  magnanimity  and  forgiveness.  They  testi- 
fied neither  resentment,  nor  anger,  nor  thirst  for  vengeance. 
Their  emotion  was  only  enthusiasm,  and  the  hope  of  prosperity. 
Earth  should  confide  in,  heaven  should  smile  upon,  the  senti- 
ments of  this  people  during  such  a  night. 

Only  from  time  to  time,  and  from  distance  to  distance,  were 
heard  a  few  detonations  and  balls  whistling  afar  off  in  the  air. 
These  came  from  the  posts  of  the  combatants,  who  fired  at 
random  to  inform  the  troops,  of  whose  dispositions  they  were 
ignorant,  that  the  army  of  the  people  was  on  foot,  and  that  a 
surprise  was  impossible.  Lamartine  and  his  friends  everj'- 
where  harangued  the  posts,  reassured  them,  and  were  received 
with  cries  of  '■'■Vive  le  goiivernenient  provisoire  '.'^  Only,  as 
they  became  distant  from  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  the  posts  became 
more  rare.  Here  and  there,  some  combatants  of  the  three  days 
wandered  in  groups,  without  chiefs,  in  the  streets  and  on  the 
quays,  intoxicated  with  battle  and  wine  ;  they  shouted  cries  of 
victory,  and  struck  the  doors  with  the  butt-ends  of  their  mus- 
kets, or  with  the  handles  of  their  swords.  They  kindled  watch 
fires,  as  signs  of  joy,  rather  than  signs  of  death.  At  the 
extremity  of  the  bridge  of  the  Tuileries,  at  the  entrance  of  the 
rue  du  Bac,  and  in  the  streets  adjacent  to  the  faubourg  Saint 
Germain,  these  watch-fires  were  prolonged  throughout  the  night. 
Lamartine  could  not  reach  the  door  of  his  house,  except  by 
passing  this  fire  of  the  tirailleurs. 

After  having  changed  his  clothes,  which  had  been  torn  to 
rags  by  the  tumults  of  the  day,  and  taken  two  or  three  hours 
sleep,  he  returned,  on  foot,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  to 
the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

The  late  hours  of  the  night  had  more  completely  put  the  town 
to  sleep.  The  fires  were  extinguished  on  the  barricades.  The 
sentinels  of  the  people  slept  with  their  elbows  resting  on  the 
mouths  of  their  muskets.  A  certain  dull  noise  was  heard  com- 
ing from  the  deep  and  dark  streets  that  surround  the  place  de 
Greve.  Groups  of  four  or  five  armed  men  traversed,  here  and 
there,  the  quay,  the  streets,  and  the  squares,  with  rapid  steps. 
They  conversed  as  they  marched,  in  low  voices,  like  conspira- 
tors. These  men  were,  in  general,  differently  clothed  from  the 
rest  of  the  people.  Riding-coats  of  a  dark  color  ;  caps  of  dark 
cloth,  with  red  edgings  ;  pantaloons  and  boots  of  a  certain  ele- 
gance ;  thick  be*  .rds  upon  the  uhin  and  lips,  carefully  cut  and 
combed  ;  delicate  and  white  hands,  rather  made  to  hold  the  pen 
than  the  tool ;  intelligent  looks,  but  suspicious  and  eager  as 


176  HISTORY   OF   THE   REVOLUTION   OF    1848. 

conspiracy,  showed  that  these  men  did  not  belong,  by  their 
labor  at  least,  to  the  destitute  classes,  but  were  their  leaders, 
their  agitators,  and  their  chiefs.  Lamartine  perceived,  by  the 
light  of  the  bivouac  fires,  that  they  wore  red  ribands  in  their 
button-holes,  and  red  cockades  on  their  hats.  He  believed  that 
it  was  a  simple  rally ing-sign,  set  up  to  recognize  each  other 
during  the  days  of  combat  which  had  just  passed  by.  He 
entered  the  Hotel  de  Ville  without  suspicion,  and  roused  his 
colleague,  Marie,  who  went,  in  his  turn,  to  see  and  reassure 
his  friends. 

Calm,  silence,  and  sleep,  reigned  at  this  hour  in  all  parts  of 
this  vast  edifice,  so  noisy  a  few  hours  before.  This  silence  was 
only  interrupted  by  the  groans  and  the  dreams,  broken  with 
the  loud  cries  of  agony,  of  the  wounded  and  the  dying,  who 
strowed  the  salle  du  trone.  Lamartine  resumed  his  post  in  the 
somewhat  enlarged,  half  empty,  and  better  protected  precincts 
of  the  provisional  government.  In  drafting  orders  and  prepar- 
ing decrees,  he  awaited  there  the  dawn  of  day,  and  the  return 
of  some  of  his  c  ^Ueagues. 


BOOK  VII. 


I. 

DuRES'G  that  cessation  of  thoughts  and  erents  which  the  ad- 
vanced hours  of  the  night,  and  especially  the  tv\dlight  of  the 
morning,  always  produces,  even  in  the  convulsions  of  battles 
and  revolution*,  one  part}'  alone  had  watched,  to  regain,  with 
all  its  forces,  on  the  following  day,  the  victory,  and  the  direc- 
tion of  affairs,  which  the  provisional  government  had  taken 
from  it,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  evening.  To  better  compre- 
hend this  narrative,  we  must  resolve,  with  precision  and  jus- 
tice, the  three  parties  which  produced  the  revolution ;  and 
which,  when  the  revolution  was  once  accomplished  by  the  flight 
of  the  king,  had  agreed  to  proclahn  or  adopt  the  republic. 

These  three  parties  were,  first,  the  liberal  and  national  party, 
composed  of  aU  the  friends  of  liberty  and  of  the  progress  of 
institutions,  taken  from  all  classes  of  the  population,  without 
exception  of  social  condition  or  fortune. 

Second,  the  socialist  party,  composed  of  the  partisans,  then 
united  in  a  single  army,  of  different  sects,  schools,  or  systems, 
which  tend  to  the  renovation,  more  or  less  radical,  of  society, 
by  a  new  distribution  of  the  conditions  of  labor,  or  of  the  found- 
ations of  property. 

Lastly,  the  revolutionary  party,  composed  of  those  for  whom 
revolutions  are,  in  themselves,  their  only  aim  ;  men  regardless 
of  aU  philosophic  love  for  progress,  indifferent  to  the  dreams 
of  radical  amelioration,  hurrying  into  revolutions  for  the  sake 
of  their  excitement,  having  in  their  soul  neither  the  conse- 
crated morality  of  those  who  consider  governments  only  as 
instruments  for  the  people's  welfare,  nor  in  their  imagination 
the  chimeras  of  those  who  believe  they  can  renovate  entirely 
a  social  order  without  burj'ing  man  under  its  ruins.  These 
revolutionaries,  without  faith,  without  ideas,  but  filled  with 
passions  and  mental  commotions,  wish  for  convulsions  in  their 
own  image,  and  find  in  prolonged  convulsions  their  only  ideal. 
16 


178 


HISTORY    OF   THE 


For  their  whole  theory,  they  aspire  to  re^  olutionaiy  g-ovem- 
ments  without  faith,  without  law,  without  end,  without  peace, 
without  truce,  and  without  morality,  like  themselves. 

II. 

The  first  of  these  parties,  that  is  to  say,  the  national  and 
liberal  party,  was,  in  the  main,  the  one  which  had  contributed 
the  most  to  the  revolution,  by  its  estrangement  from  royal 
power,  by  the  agitation  of  its  reform  banquets,  by  its  personal 
opposition  to  the  king  in  the  Chambers  ;  in  fine,  by  the  de- 
sertion of  the  National  Guard,  united  by  reform  to  the  people, 
by  the  inactivity  of  the  troops,  and  by  the  prompt  adhesion  of 
the  generals  to  the  new  government.  This  party,  sincerely 
grown  up  in  liberalism  for  tliirty  years,  imbued  with  the  feel- 
ing of  its  dignity  as  citizens,  feeling  itself  able  to  dispense  with 
the  king,  and  capable  of  self-government,  had  smoothly  entered 
the  republic.  It  congratulated  itself  with  having  quelled  anar- 
chy at  the  first  blow.  The  popularity,  promptness,  and  energy 
of  the  provisional  government  had  reconstructed  in  eighteen 
hours  the  elements  of  order,  by  throwing  itself,  without  hesi- 
tation, under  the  ruins  of  the  general  crash.  The  national 
party  was  already  only  occupied  with  thinking  how  to  restrain 
and  regulate  a  revolution,  which  it  accepted  on  the  condition 
that  it  should  be  restrained  and  regulated  in  the  establishment 
of  the  great  general  interests  of  society. 


III. 

The  second  party,  that  of  the  socialists,  of  every  sect,  was 
divided  into  rival  schools.  The  schools  were  only  united  in 
the  censure,  more  or  less  radical,  of  the  social  and  traditional 
order  of  societies.  Their  theories,  all  tending  to  the  better 
division  of  profits  and  employments,  to  the  suppression  of  per- 
sonal property,  to  the  community  of  goods,  differed,  never- 
theless, as  to  the  ways  and  means  by  which  this  radical  level- 
ing of  society  should  be  accomplished.  Some  aim  at  it  by 
what  they  call  the  organization  of  labor  ;  that  is  to  say,  the 
arbitration  of  government  being  established  in  the  place  of  the 
free  competition  between  capital  and  wages, —  a  sure  mode  of 
destroying  them  both.  Such  was  especially  the  character  of 
the  school  of  M.  Louis  Blanc,  a  kind  of  industrial  and  mobile 
comij  unism,  which  did  not,  nominally,  dispossess  either  the 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  179 

proprietor  of  tlie  soil  or  the  proprietor  of  capital,  but  which,  by- 
depriving  thim  both  of  their  liberty,  really  destroyed  them  in 
action,  and  ^ras  equivalent  to  a  confiscation  of  all  capital,  since 
it  was  the  confiscation  of  all  interest. 

This  system,  moderated  and  disguised  by  its  formulas, 
founded  upon  a  real  principle  of  justice,  equality  and  compassion 
for  the  brutalities  of  competition,  and  the  wrongs,  too  often 
real,  of  capital,  set  forth  by  its  author  with  a  plausible  sopliis- 
try  which  convinced  the  ignorant,  and  with  a  talent  of  style 
and  eloquence  which  dazzled  youth,  and  resounded  among 
the  masses,  was  of  all  these  systems  the  one  which  had  the 
most  serious  sectaries.  The  cry  of  organization  of  labor  had 
become,  thanks  to  the  obscurity  of  the  terms,  for  ten  years, 
the  cry  of  the  crusade  of  the  destitute  against  the  political  and 
social  state. 

This  cry,  incomprehensible  to  the  educated  classes,  had,  in 
their  ej'es,  the  charm  and  prestige  of  mystery.  It  was  the 
mirage  of  philosophy !  To  the  laborious  classes  of  industiy, 
this  cry  meant  justice,  reparation,  hope,  and  consolation.  Too 
little  enlightened  to  sound  it  to  the  bottom,  and  discover  its 
impossibilities,  its  deceptions  and  miseries,  these  classes 
attached  themselves  to  it  so  much  the  more,  as  they  only  saw 
in  it  a  practicable,  easy  and  inoffensive  amelioration  of  the 
conditions  of  labor ;  an  amelioration  compatible,  in  their  opin- 
ion, with  property,  riches  and  capital,  which  they  did  not  wish 
to  assault  by  violence  and  spoliation.  This  system,  at  an 
epoch,  and  in  cities,  where  industry  accumulated  floating  and 
suffering  masses  of  unemployed  or  worn-out  workmen,  must 
rapidly  rally  an  army  of  the  destitute  under  its  banner.  This 
party  was  the  vanguard  of  communism,  under  a  name  which 
deceived  every  one,  even  its  own  soldiers. 

IV. 

The  other  socialist  schools  were,  first,  that  of  Fourier, 
sprung  from  the  ruins  of  Saint  Simonism,  which  was  born  and 
died  if.  1830.  The  idea  of  Fourierism,  more  vast,  more  pro- 
found, more  animated  by  a  spiritual  thought,  was  propagated 
by  means  of  an  apostleship,  and  was  elevated  to  the  position 
of  a  religion  of  society,  by  the  faith  and  the  talent  of  its  prin- 
cipal apostles.  This  sect  had  its  daily  catechism,  commented 
upon  at  Paris,  in  the  journal  La  Democratie  racifique,  under 
the  direction  of  MM.  Considerant,  Hennequin,  and  Cantagrel. 


ISO  HISTORY    OF    THE 

It  had  its  chapels-of-ease,  its  missions,  its  rooms  for  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  Lord's  Supper,  its  rolls,  and  its  supplies  of  the  ini- 
tiated, in  all  classes  of  the  departments,  and  throughout  Europe. 
It  did  not  present  itself  as  a  subversion  of  existing  society,  but 
as  a  great  experiment  of  a  regenerated  society,  demanding 
only,  with  respectful  tolerance  for  vested  rights,  a  place  in  dis- 
cussion for  its  theories,  a  place  upon  the  soil  for  its  proofs.  It 
did  not  wish  to  constrain  —  it  wished  to  convince.  It  was  a 
dream  in  action.  The  commvmity,  which  it  preached,  under 
the  forms  of  its  phalanstires,  a  kind  of  industrial  and  agricul- 
tural monasteries,  supposed  angels  to  practise  it,  gods  to  govern 
it,  mysteries  to  accomplish  it.  It  was  these  very  mysteries, 
in  vain  undermined  by  reasoning,  and  in  vain  insulted  by  ridi- 
cule, that  seemed  to  attach  its  sectaries  to  it  more  closely. 
Mysticism  is  the  cement  of  illusions.  It  renders  them  holy 
in  the  eyes  of  those  who  partake  them.  Enthusiasm  is  incur- 
able, when  the  enthusiasts  believe  themselves  inspired,  and 
when  the  inspired  believe  themselves  martyrs. 

If  Fourierism  had,  in  its  principal  adepts,  the  illusions  and 
superstitions  of  a  religion,  it  had  also  its  honesty  and  virtues. 
It  had  always  refused  to  unite  itself  with  political  parties  hos- 
tile to  the  established  government.  Its  part  of  philosophy  and 
religion  made  it  despise  the  part  of  faction.  It  recommended 
peace  to  nations,  order  and  toleration  to  citizens.  It  practised 
courageously,  in  its  acts  and  writings,  that  which  it  preached. 
It  was  a  doctrine  of  good  faith,  of  harmony  and  peace ;  a 
pacific  doctrine,  like  that  of  the  Quakers  of  America  :  we  might 
fear  it,  discuss  it,  or  laugh  at  it ;  we  could  not  withhold  from  it 
our  esteem.     It  might  make  madmen,  but  never  criminals. 


Under  this  great  sect,  secondary  and  partial  sects  were  di- 
vided as  to  the  practical  application  of  the  common  doctrine 
of  the  expropriation  of  the  individual  man  in  society.  Some 
adopted  the  incoherent  and  confused  reveries  of  the  Icarians, 
under  the  direction  of  M.  Cabet,  —  a  sort  of  posthumous  but 
humane  Babeuf,  —  inciting  to  an  agrarian  community  all  the 
malecontents  of  labor,  all  those  proscribed  by  riches,  all  the 
victims  of  the  industry  of  cities.  Others  sought  to  find  some 
of  the  mirages  of  the  new  society  in  the  natural  instincts  of 
man,  through  the  perspective  metaphysics  of  M.  Pierre  Leroux, 
enlightened  by  a  ray  of  Christianity.  Others  were  pleased  to 
avenge  their  position  by  following  the  desperate  doctrines  of  a 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  ISl 

great  sophist.  This  sophist  avowed  his  audacity.  He  aspired 
to  the  complete  ruin  of  the  thinking  and  political  world.  He 
was  delighted  with  the  ruins  of  the  present,  and  the  chaos  of 
the  future.  He  was  the  Nemesis  of  ancient  societies.  His 
name  was  M.  Proudhon.  But  his  ruinous  philosophy  was  at 
least  learned.  All  the  genius  that  sophistry  can  have  he 
possessed.  He  played  with  falsehoods  and  truths  as  the 
Greek  children  with  their  osselets. 

Others,  in  fine,  true  barbarians  of  civilization,  had  neither 
doctrine,  nor  faith,  nor  social  religion,  nor  masters,  nor  illusions, 
nor  sects ;  they  had  hunger  andlhirst  for  destruction. 

A  feelincr,  become  inveterate  from  trouble,  irritated  to  hatred, 
and  pervefted  to  vice,  fennented  for  many  years  in  their  souls. 
This  feeling  urged  them,  at  least,  to  destroy  the  institution,  to 
which  they  attributed  their  sufferings,  when  they  should  have 
attributed  them  to  the  imperfection  inherent,  from  our  nature, 
in  human  institutions.  These  last  were  few  in  number,  and  lay 
concealed  in  the  sinks  of  the  capital  and  the  great  industrial 
townis. 

The  other  chiefs  and  socialist  sects,  which  we  have  just 
enumerated,  Avere  far  from  resembling  these  desperadoes  of 
disorder.  They  had  among  them,  at  the  side  of  lawful  and 
lofty  aspirations  for  the  amelioration  of  social  order,  false  ideas, 
impracticable,  subversive  of  all  justice,  all  family,  all  wealth, 
all  instincts,  in  their  application.  But  they  were  not  volun- 
tarily immoral  or  perverse.  These  men,  impassioned  even  to 
fanaticism, —  some  from  pride  for  their  system,  others  by  reli- 
gious desire  for  the  progress  of  societ)%  —  believed,  at  least, 
that  they  had  an  idea.  An  idea,  even  a  false  one,  in  which 
one  firmly  believes,  and  to  which  one  is  fanatically  devoted, 
carries  with  it  its  oa\ii  morality.  This  idea  may  be  absurd,  but 
it  is  not  criminal;  it  is  what  false  religions  are  to  people  —  a 
delirium  before  reason,  a  virtue  before  conscience.  It  Avishes 
the  impossible,  but  it  does  not  wish  to  achieve  it  by  crime. 

Such  was  the  character,  at  this  time,  of  the  different  socialist 
schools  that  proclaimed  the  republic  with  the  republicans. 
None  of  these  sects,  none  of  these  chiefs,  desired  to  urge  the 
republic  to  destruction,  violence  and  blood,  in  order  tc  find 
in  these  ruins  and  this  blood  the  problem  of  their  school  victo- 
rious. History  should  not  calumniate  opinions,  which  after- 
wards became  factions,  but  which  then  were  only  hopes.  It 
should  relate  whatever  it  has  seen  to  the  honor  and  for  the 
i  pology,  as  well  as  for  the  condemnation,  of  the  socialists. 
16* 


182  HISTORY   OF   THE 


VI. 


An  enthT.siasm,  sincere  and  religious  in  the  majority,  had 
seized  at  th  s  moment  on  the  socialists  of  the  different  sects. 
It  elevated  the  masters  and  disciples  above  evil  thoughts,  low 
ambition,  ar  d,  stiU  more,  above  the  ferocity  of  spirit  which  has 
since  been  imputed  to  them.  Enthusiasm  temporarily  sanctified 
all  hearts  ;  that  of  the  socialists,  and  especially  of  the  disciples 
of  Fourier  and  Raspail,  was  inflamed  even  to  ecstasy.  The 
mould  of  the  world  seemed  to  them  to  have  been  suddenly  and 
miraculously  broken  before  them ;  they  all  of  them  hoped  to 
cast  more  easily  the  renewed  world  into  a  mould  more  or  less 
conformable  to  their  opinions.  This  joy  unveiled  their  hearts ; 
there  flowed  from  them  at  this  time  only  the  effusion  of  senti- 
ments humane,  fraternal,  indulgent  for  the  past,  respectful  to- 
wards vested  rights.  They  appeared  as  the  reformers  of  social 
wrongs,  the  protectors  of  the  wealthy,  and  providential  for  the 
destitute.  They  offered  their  concurrence,  their  influence,  their 
vigilance,  their  bayonets,  and  their  blood,  to  the  members  of  the 
government,  to  aid  them  to  sustain  order,  to  humanize  the  revo- 
lution, to  discipline  the  republic,  to  protect  industry,  land  and 
property.  They  wished  a  gradual  and  rational  transformation, 
not  a  deluge.  There  proceeded  from  their  lips,  in  these  first 
hours  of  explosion,  when  the  soul  is  revealed,  not  a  word  ex- 
pressive of  the  rage  of  vengeance,  of  resentment,  or  division, 
among  the  classes ;  there  proceeded  no  word  which  might  not 
be  registered  to  the  honor  of  the  human  race.  Their  counte- 
nances, their  eyes,  their  tears,  their  gestures,  aU  attested  the 
sincerity  of  their  words.  They  did  not  surely  dream  of  bely- 
ing them,  on  the  morrow,  by  their  acts.  Behold  the  testimony. 
The  members  of  the  government,  who  are  the  most  opposed  to 
them  in  theory,  owe  it  to  history,  to  men,  and  to  God. 

vn. 

The  third  party  was  that  which  already  conspired  against  the 
revolution  it  had  made,  before  it  was  fully  accomplisned. 

It  is  of  importance  for  history,  for  the  nation,  and  for  hu- 
manity, to  closely  analyze  the  elements  of  this  party.  It 
destroyed  the  first  republic,  by  mingling  itself  with  it ;  it  aspired 
from  the  first  night  to  destroy  the  second.  This  party  exists 
everywhere,  as  the  element  of  disorder  and  crime,  the  froth  of 
the  people ;  it  exists  in  France  alone  as  a  theoretical  and  politi- 
cal party. 


1  EVOLUTION   OF   1848.  183 

The  first  French  revolution  —  at  first  a  philosophy,  then  a 
conflict  between  the  past  and  future  —  had  terrible  struggles 
to  sustain  and  engage,  in  order  to  gain  the  victory  over  aris- 
tocracy, despotism,  and  the  church,  who  were  in  possession  of 
the  old  world,  and  to  acquire  equality,  liberty,  and  toleration, 
and  the  portion  of  applicable  truths  which  the  modern  French 
reason  wished  to  have  embodied  in  legislation  and  the  govern- 
ment. In  this  triple  civil  war  of  ideas,  conscience  and  interest, 
which  lasted  from  1789  to  1796,  all  the  elements,  good  or  bad, 
of  a  revolution  were  roused,  mingled  and  confounded.  Phi- 
losophers, legislators,  orators,  the  soldiers  and  tribunes  of  the 
revolution,  at  first  contended  generously,  each  with  his  own 
opinions  and  his  own  arms.  But  affairs  becoming  embroiled, 
rage,  violence,  tyranny,  cruelty,  and  revolutionary  crime,  played 
their  part  in  those  dark  days.  Dictatorships  of  the  demagogue, 
proscriptions,  confiscations,  scaffolds,  punishments,  wholesale 
assassinations,  in  fine,  like  those  of  September,  had  their  days 
and  their  year  in  the  revolution.  These  eclipses  of  justice 
and  the  moderation  of  humanity  affrighted  the  world,  rendered 
the  republic  unpopular,  dishonored  the  people  ;  they  delighted 
certain  disordered  spirits,  and  certain  perverse  hearts.  Danton 
one  day,  fatal  to  his  name,  Marat  and  his  accomplices  always, 
Saint-Just  sometimes,  excused  crime.  They  glorified  it  as  an 
instrument  of  audacity  ;  they  vaunted  it  as  a  triumph  of  logic 
over  pit)',  as  a  meritorious  triumph  of  will  over  conscience. 
The  human  race  let  them  strike  and  speak,  and  the  horror  of 
history  refuted  their  sophisms.  When  Ave  analyze,  at  the  pres- 
ent day,  in  cool  blood,  their  theory  of  the  pretended  salvation 
of  the  republic  bj''  crime,  we  find  that  the  republic  of  '93  owes 
nothing  to  these  crimes,  if  it  be  not  the  failure  of  the  principle, 
the  reprobation  of  the  means,  the  postponement  of  the  true  re- 
public, and  the  despotism  of  a  soldier. 

But  sophistry  is  pleasing  to  men,  sometimes  as  mental 
originality,  sometimes  as  conscientious  daring,  sometimes  as  a 
defiance  to  prevailing  opinion.  Scarcely  had  the  blood  of  the 
revolution  been  stanched,  than  there  were  found  publicists  and 
historians,  some  pen'erse,.  others  fatalists,  others  only  indulgent 
towards  sophistry,  who  coolly  took  up  the  ebullitions  of  Danton, 
and  the  aphorisms  of  Saint-Just,  to  form  them  into  a  theory  of 
revolutions,  and  a  superhuman  system  of  history.  They 
affected  an  arrogant  pity  for  the  scruples  of  honesty  and  human- 
ity ;  they  attributed  to  statesmen  in  times  of  revolution  I  know 
not  what  supreme  right  to  compel,  to  proscribe,  to  sacrifice  their 


184  HISTORY    OF   THE 

enemies  or  1  heir  rivals ;  a  right  which  placed  them,  in  their 
opinion,  not  only  above  aU  written  justice,  but  above  even 
equity  :  they  overturned  nature  to  give  credit  to  their  historical 
system ;  they  deified  the  executioners,  and  poured  contempt  on 
the  victims.  This  school  multiplied  during  the  restoration,  and 
during  the  reign  of  Louis  Philippe.  Opposition  made  the 
sophistry  popular ;  immorality  welcomed  it ;  imitation  propa- 
gated it ;  the  after-taste  of  crime,  which  is  concealed  within  the 
depths  of  certain  souls,  rejoiced  in  it.  To  suppress  remorse 
was  not  enough ;  the  offence  must  needs  be  sanctioned  :  this 
height  of  absurdity  was  reached  ;  generations  of  minds  were 
nourished  with  these  ideas  ;  false  natures  diffused  them ;  feeble 
natures  yielded  to  them ;  perverse  natures  converted  them  into 
a  scheme  of  government,  and  into  ferocity  of  spirit. 

VIII. 

Thence  was  born  in  France,  not  the  republican  party,  which 
shrank  with  horror  from  such  theories,  but  the  conventionalist 
and  terrorist  party,  which  had  for  its  watchword  the  Conven- 
tion, and  for  its  ideal.  Terror. 

This  party  allowed  these  ideas  to  transpire  in  its  writings, 
in  its  journals,  and  its  public  discourses ;  it  unveiled  them  and 
commented  upon  them  still  more  bitterly  in  some  of  its  conven- 
ticles and  subterranean  associations.  There,  the  names  of 
revolution  and  republic  were  not  used,  as  in  the  councils  of 
true  republicans,  as  synonyms  of  liberty,  equality,  and  the  mo- 
rality of  the  citizens  under  a  government  of  reason  and  equal 
rights ;  revolution  and  republic  there  signified  the  violent 
triumph  of  a  portion  of  the  people  over  the  whole  nation ;  the 
avenging  rule  of  a  single  class  over  the  other  classes ;  tyranny 
from  beneath,  substituted  for  tyranny  from  above;  despotism, 
for  law;  resentment,  for  justice  ;  the  axe,  for  government. 

This  party  had  for  its  army,  besides  its  enrolled  and  fanatical 
disciples  in  certain  sections,  all  that  ignorant,  floating  and  un- 
settled portion  of  the  vagrant  population  of  great  capitals ;  a 
population  which  rises  when  society  is  seething,  and  covers  im- 
mediately the  surface  of  the  streets  and  public  squares  with  its 
misery,  its  rags,  and  its  agitations.  It  was  the  fault  of  the  old 
society  to  leave  these  suffc  ring  dregs  of  the  population  of  cities 
without  light,  orgs  nization,  or  well-being.  Great  vices  spring 
up  from  misery.  Everything  which  stagnates  becomes  cor- 
rupt.    Crime  is  a  miasma  of  indigence  and  brutality.     The 


REVOLUTION   OF   1848.  ISo 

republic  was  made  to  enlighten,  to  heal,  and  ameliorate  these 
masses. 

Such  was  the  army  of  this  party.  It  had  for  its  standard 
the  red  flag. 

Vanquished  during  the  evening,  in  the  last  convulsions  of 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  by  the  resolution  of  the  provisional  govern- 
ment, by  the  energetic  cooperation  of  Lamartine,  and  by  his 
speeches,  the  terrorist  party  had  retired,  silenced,  but  not  re- 
signed. It  abstained,  for  the  moment,  from  disputing  the  em- 
pire with  the  government,  installed  by  the  twofold  acclamation 
of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  and  of  the  place  de  Greve.  It  had 
no  names  to  oppose  to  those  popular  ones  of  Dupont  de  I'Eure, 
Arago,  Ledru  KoUin,  Marie,  Cremieux,  and  Lamartine,  —  some 
illustrious  from  their  parliamentar}'  debates,  others  in  the  ca- 
reer of  letters,  —  the  latter  in  silence,  the  former  in  the  forum,  — 
some  from  all  these  celebrities  at  once,  others  from  public  vir- 
tue, that  renown  of  conscience,  the  highest  source  of  popularity. 
Obscure  names,  or  those  only  known  in  the  vicinity  of  their 
sections,  would  have  caused  astonishment,  hesitation,  and  per- 
haps fear,  in  the  departments.  The  republic  would  have  drawn 
back  with  incredulity  at  the  first  step.  There  was  need  of 
sureties  and  god-fathers  for  this  new  government,  to  give  credit 
to  its  reality  and  confidence  to  its  word. 

The  terrorist  party  was  forced,  in  spite  of  itself,  to  feel  this 
truth.  It  had  a  strong  ambition  to  usurp  the  power.  It  desired 
it  for  itself  alone.  It  admitted  neither  peace,  nor  concord,  nor 
toleration,  for  the  National  Guard,  the  bourgeoisie,  the  depart- 
ments, the  clergy,  or  for  property,  either  great  or  small,  all  which 
it  called  aristocracy.  Its  premeditated  administration  was  only 
a  universal  ostracism.  But  it  felt  conscious  of  the  horror 
which  it  would  inspire  in  France,  should  it  present  itself  in 
open  day.  It  resolved  to  force  itself  upon  France  without 
declaring  its  name,  by  showing  its  forces  in  the  morning,  by 
exercising  over  the  capital  the  fascination  of  terror,  over  the 
provisional  government  the  pressure  of  its  arms;  by  intimidat- 
ing its  members  or  overthrowing  them  ;  by  introducing  some  of 
its  chiefs  into  the  bosom  of  the  government,  and  by  forcing  the 
republic  to  take,  from  the  first  day,  the  red  flag,  in  token  of  its 
acceptance  of  their  opinions  and  its  acquiescence  in  their  rule. 

The  agents  of  this  party  came  to  an  understanding  during 
the  night,  and  spread  themselves  before  the  dawn  through  all 
the  conventicles  of  the  conspirators,  and  resorts  of  vice,  in  the 
quarters  of  indigence  and  ignorance,  to  raise  and  recruit  the 


183  HISTORY    OF   THE 

elements  of  a  second  revolutionary  wave,  which  should  sweep 
away  what  the  first  national  billow  had  respected,  and  demolish 
what  the  moderation  of  the  people  had  established. 

IX. 

They  succeeded  only  too  well.  The  general  fermentation 
served  their  designs.  All  the  sound  and  corrupt  elements  of 
the  people  were  moved  to  their  foundation,  and  confounded  in 
the  seething  of  events.  It  was  easy  to  give  them  a  new  im- 
pulse, and  finally  to  direct  at  its  pleasure  a  vast  sedition,  wise 
and  audacious  in  its  leaders,  but  blind  and  involuntary  in  its 
masses.  They  could,  under  the  pretext  of  completing  the  rev- 
olution, induce  the  people  to  pass  beyond  it  and  destroy  it. 
Such  was  the  hope  of  the  terrorists. 

There  are  always  two  classes  of  people  in  the  population  ;  or, 
rather,  whatever  may  be  the  equality  in  rights,  there  is  always 
an  inequality  in  manners  and  instincts.  The  most  virtuous 
man  has  in  his  nature  certain  elements  of  vice,  and  even  cer- 
tain possibilities  of  crime,  which  he  subdues  and  destroys  by  his 
virtue.  Humanity  is  made  like  man.  It  is  only  man,  multi- 
plied by  millions.  Crime  is  an  element  of  humanity.  It  is 
found  in  fatal  proportions  in  every  large  collection  of  the  people. 
It  is  for  this  that  laws  and  public  forces  are  established. 

It  was  this  vicious  portion  of  the  people,  ferocious  and  crimi- 
nal in  its  instincts,  that  the  terrorist  party  called  that  day  in 
aid  of  its  theories.  It  presented  to  them  the  humiliation  of 
all  the  classes  in  easy  circumstances,  as  a  vengeance  ;  disorder, 
as  a  reign  ;  society,  as  a  prey  ;  the  destruction  of  property,  as  a 
hope ;  the  supremacy  of  one  class  over  every  other,  as  the  only 
true  democracy ;  confiscation  and  proscription,  as  their  lawful 
arms ;  a  convention,  ruled  by  the  demagogues  of  Paris,  as  the 
republic  ;  tribunes,  for  legislators  ;  executioners,  for  leaders  ;  the 
revolutionary  axe,  as  the  final  argument  and  only  conscience 
of  the  victorious  people. 

X. 

Men  who  thu  s  understood  a  republic  were  rare.  They  were, 
for  the  most  part,  young  conspirators,  pallid  from  their  vigils 
in  the  secret  societies,  and  extolled  in  the  nocturnal  conven- 
ticles ;  without  shame  and  without  responsibility  in  these 
meetings,  where  all  is  feverish  excitement ;  poisoned  from  their 
childhood  by  those  gospels  of  terror,  where  Danton  and  Saint- 
Just  are  deified,  —  the  one  for  his  audacity  in  murder,  the  other 


BiVOLUTION   OF    1843.  18^ 

for  his  coolness  in  immolation :  men  soured  by  the  isolation 
of  their  opinions;  some  tempted  by  the  desire  to  imitate  those 
outrages  which  they  consider  great,  since  they  are  rare  ;  others, 
parodists  of  the  drama  of  the  first  revolution,  plagiaries  of  the 
scafTold,  ambitious  of  a  name  in  history,  at  whatever  sacrifice 
of  conscience  renown  was  to  be  purchased ;  jealous  of  the  no- 
toriety of  crime;  men  whom  the  immortality  of  Marat  and 
Babeuf  deprived  of  sleep.  They  had  understood,  for  many 
years,  their  opinions  and  their  writings,  whence  evil  thoughts 
had  been  infused  into  their  souls :  and  if  a  revolution  should 
afTord  them  an  opportunity  for  their  perverseness,  they  would 
not  hesitate  at  any  act,  as  they  would  not  stay  before  any 
opinion,  or  before  any  censure  of  the  human  race.  They  were 
the  sophists  of  the  scaflTold,  kindling  their  dying  passions  to 
induce  the  commission  of  outrages  even  after  their  death,  and 
to  make  victims  in  place  of  citizens. 

These  men  could  recruit  their  forces  only  from  the  deep  and 
mephitic  mud  of  the  population  of  great  capitals.  Crime  only 
ferments  in  those  agglomerations  of  idleness,  debauchery,  volun- 
tary misery  and  vice ;  the  immorality  removed  from  open  day, 
where  the  discipline  and  labor  of  society  does  not  penetrate. 

The  mass  of  the  laborious  and  settled  population  of  Paris 
had  made  vast  progress,  since  fifty  years,  in  education,  civiliza- 
tion, and  practical  virtue.  Equality  had  ennobled,  industry 
had  enriched  them.  Contact  with  the  different  classes,  that 
were  formerly  called  bourgeoisie,  had  polished  and  softened 
their  opinions,  their  language  and  manners.  Education  becom- 
ing generally  diffused,  economy  established  as  an  institution  by 
the  savings-banks,  books  multiplied,  journals,  fraternal  or  reli- 
giovis  associations,  competence  which  affords  leisure,  leisure 
which  allows  reflection,  had  fortunately  transformed  them. 
The  well  understood  community  of  interests  between  this  peo- 
ple and  the  bourgeoisie  with  whom  they  mingled,  had  given 
them  in  common  the  same  ideas.  The  vast  quantity  of  com- 
mon sense  which  was  diffused,  by  every  means,  among  the 
workmen  of  Paris,  fortified  them  in  advance  against  tne  seduc- 
tions and  dominion  of  the  terrorists.  The  reminiscences  of  the 
terror,  iV  >  punishments,  the  proscription,  the  confiscations,  the 
forced  leans,  and  the  maximums  of  the  first  revolution,  become 
familiar,  by  the  report  of  history,  to  all  classes  of  the  nation, 
inspired  no  less  horror  among  the  poor  than  among  the  rich. 
Conscience  is  sometimes  more  just  in  the  masses  than  in  the 
more  elevated  classes  of  society,  since  conscience  is  almost  the 


188  HISTORY   OF   THE 

only  moral  organ  that  they  exercise.  Sophistry  is  only  for  the 
use  of  the  learned ;  nature  does  not  recognize  it.  Between 
the  people  and  the  excesses  to  which  they  desired  to  lead  them, 
stood  their  conscience  and  their  memory.  Half  a  century  is 
the  half  of  the  life  of  man ;  but  it  is  so  short  an  interval  in  the 
life  of  a  nation,  that  1848  appeared,  in  reality,  but  the  morrow 
of  1793 ;  and  in  regarding  the  pavement  of  their  streets,  the 
people  trembled  lest  they  should  set  their  feet  in  the  marks  of 
Wood  of  their  first  republic. 

The  terrorists  of  1848,  in  order  to  obtain  control  of  the  second 
republic,  could  only  appeal  to  the  two  elements  which  are  always 
found  in  a  city  of  five  hundred  thousand  souls,  in  a  state  of 
sedition,  crime  and  error. 

The  party  of  freed  convicts,  abject  in  their  manners,  stagnat- 
ing in  vice,  allured  by  crime,  constantly  leaving  and  returning 
to  the  prisons,  as  in  a  fatal  transition  from  crime  to  punishment ; 
men  vomited  from  jails,  and  polluted  by  familiarity  with  dun- 
geons ;  those  who  live  in  Paris  by  the  chances  of  the  day,  by 
the  snares  which  they  lay,  by  the  shameful  traffic  which  they 
exercise  in  a  corrupted  capital ;  those  whose  bad  reputation 
obliges  them  to  conceal  their  life  among  the  crowd ;  those 
who,  having  lost  the  regular  means  of  livelihood,  and  not 
wishing  to  acquire  them  by  labor,  array  themselves  in  hatred 
and  war  against  all  discipline  and  all  society;  those  who, 
reversing  in  themselves  all  the  principles  of  human  morality, 
make  of  vice  a  profession,  and  of  crime  a  glory  ;  those,  in  fine, 
who  are  themselves  the  personification  of  the  constant  whirl  of 
dissipation,  of  the  unceasing  breath  of  agitation,  of  the  luxury 
of  chaos  and  the  thirst  of  blood. 

All  of  these  men,  whom  we  should  blush  to  call  by  the  same 
name  with  the  people,  form  a  mass  of  about  twenty  thousand 
vagrants,  ready  for  every  work  of  destruction  ;  living  unseen 
in  tranquil  times,  coming  from  the  shade,  and  covering  the 
streets,  in  days  of  civil  commotion.  A  signal  of  the  chief,  a 
nocturnal  appeal  from  their  accomplices,  suffice  to  rally  them  in 
a  moment. 

They  were  already  rallied  and  on  foot,  at  the  sound  of  the 
firing  of  muskets  and  at  the  crumbling  of  government  during  the 
past  three  days.  It  was  the  bands  of  this  army  who  were,  at 
this  time,  the  incendiaries  at  Puteaux  and  Neuilly,  who  laid 
waste  and  pj'laged  the  residence  of  the  king,  and  the  country- 
seat  of  the  Rothschild  family,  at  the  very  moment  when  that 
family  sent  an  immense  voluntary  subsidy  to  the  wounded  and 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  189 

Starving  Morkmen.  It  was  they  who  sacked  the  Tuileries, 
preserved,  with  difficulty,  by  the  true  combatants.  The  people 
had,  with  energy,  thrown  them  from  their  bosom,  and  many 
paid  with  their  lives  for  their  rapacity.  Repulsed  with  indig- 
nation by  the  people  of  the  revolution,  they  had  plunged  again 
into  their  filth  ;  one  had  only  to  stir  it,  to  make  them  reappear. 

The  other  element  which  the  terrorist  party  had  equally  at 
its  disposal,  and  which  it  could  conduct,  by  deceiving  it,  to  the 
assault  of  a  new  power,  was  not,  as  we  have  seen,  the  misled 
workmen,  enrolled  and  disciplined  under  the  different  chiefs 
of  the  socialist  schools  —  these  were  honestly  and  heroically 
opposed  to  all  violence  and  disorder ;  but  those  who  belonged 
to  the  brutal,  ignorant,  and  perverse  party  of  the  communists, 
that  is  to  say,  the  destroyers,  the  ravagers,  and  barbarians  of 
society.  All  their  theories  were  limited  to  feeling  their  suffer- 
ings, and  to  transforming  them  into  enjoyments  by  making  an 
invasion  upon  pronerty,  industry,  land,  capital  and  commerce, 
and  by  distributing  their  spoils,  as  the  lawful  conquest  of  a 
starving  republic  over  a  dispossessed  bourgeoisie,  without  troub- 
ling themselves  as  to  the  future  legislation  of  such  an  organized 
havoc. 

These  two  elements,  the  one  criminal,  the  other  blind,  natu- 
rally united  and  coalesced,  without  premeditation,  under  the 
hands  of  active  leaders.  The  same  thought  rallied  them  to  the 
same  movement,  though  from  different  instincts,  to  overthrow, 
in  the  provisional  government,  the  barrier  which  had  just  been 
erected  against  their  excesses,  or  to  force  that  government  to 
serve  as  the  docile  instrument  of  their  tyranny.  They  picked 
up  a  third  element  of  number  and  violence  in  the  indigent 
people  of  the  precincts  of  Paris  and  the  faubourgs,  collected 
during:  the  eveninor  at  the  sound  of  cannon,  and  assembled  in 
countless  masses,  by  torch-light,  on  the  vast  place  de  Bastille, 
that  Mount  Aventine  of  revolutions,  the  point  of  departure  of 
the  great  streets  which  lead  to  all  the  thoroughfares  of  Paris. 

Upon  this  square,  till  midnight,  armed  groups  were  electrified 
by  their  own  numbers,  their  oscillations,  and  by  those  munnurs 
which  proceed  from  such  great  masses  collected  together,  and 
which  augment  tenfold  their  strength,  as  the  waves  which  rise 
from  the  sea  increase  the  force  of  the  winds.  These  groups 
had  no  malevolent  intention  against  society;  on  the  contrary, 
they  had  descended,  ready  armed,  to  defend  the  hearths  of  the 
citizens  of  Paris  against  the  return  of  the  troops,  who,  they  were 
told,  menaced  the  capital  with  the  vengeance  of  the  king. 
17 


190  HISTORY    OF   THE 

B  :t  the  more  formidable  appeared  to  them  this  return  of 
royalty  and  the  army,  the  more  dear  to  them  was  the  accom- 
plished revolution ;  the  more,  also,  were  they  alarmed  and 
indignant  at  the  dangers  of  feebleness  or  treason,  which  this 
revolution  appeared  to  them  to  risk.  Distorted  news  from  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  and  the  Hotel  de  Ville  circulated  among 
them.  They  interrogated  one  another  respecting  the  worth  of 
the  names  which  composed  the  government.  These  names 
thus  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  from  orator  to  orator, 
through  a  stormy  examination.  Dupont  de  I'Eure  was  ap- 
proved for  his  constancy  and  virtue,  but  reproached  for  his  old 
age.  They  refused  to  believe  that,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two,  a 
man  could  have,  upon  the  brink  of  his  political  life,  the  power 
of  will  and  resistance  sufficient  to  give  to  his  country^  the  weight 
and  energy  of  which  a  revolutionary  government  has  need. 
This  old  man,  however,  has  wonderfully  given  the  lie  to  time. 

The  name  of  Arago  was  saluted  with  unanimous  acclama- 
tions. He  carried  with  him  the  twofold  prestige  which  fasci- 
nates an  intelligent  people ;  science,  a  kind  of  divine  right, 
against  which  the  masses  do  not  contend  in  France  ;  and  the 
reputation  of  an  honorable  man,  which  makes  all  foreheads  bow. 

Ledru  Rollin  gave  them  brilliant  pledges  by  his  character  of 
tribune  of  the  militant  democracy,  which  he  had  taken  in  par- 
liament, the  banquets,  and  the  radical  journal  La  Reforme. 
His  age,  his  revolutionary  zeal,  ruled  by  an  eloquent  intelli- 
gence, his  figure,  his  attitude,  his  gesture,  were  the  personifi- 
cation of  a  democracy  after  their  own  hearts ;  all  this  gave  to 
the  name  of  Ledru  Rollin  a  kind  of  inviolability.  If  they  did  not 
accept  him  as  a  statesman,  they  recognized  him  as  their  perse- 
vering accomplice  in  revolutionary  conquests.  They  admired 
him  as  their  tribune. 

The  names  of  Marie  and  Cremieux  only  presented  to  them 
reminiscences  of  opposition,  integrity,  and  talent,  in  the  double 
arena  of  the  bar  and  the  parliament ;  they  hesitated  to  consider 
them  sufficiently  republican. 

The  name  of  Lamartine  inspired  them,  at  once,  with  more 
favor  and  more  dislike.  They  fluctuated,  with  regard  to  him, 
between  attraction  and  repulsion.  He  was  liberal,  but  he  was 
blemished  with  the  stain  of  aristocratic  origin ;  he  was  in  the 
opposition  since  1S30,  but  he  had  serv^ed  the  restoration  in  his 
youth,  at  d  he  had  never  insulted  it  since  its  fall.  He  had 
professed,  in  "les  Girondhis"  a  theoretical  admiration  for  the 
regular  accession  of  the  people  to  all  their  lawful  rights  ;  but 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  191 

he  hid  repudiated,  both  at  the  tribune  and  in  his  books,  the 
demagogue  spirit  and  the  organization  of  labor.  He  had  been 
impartial  and  just  towards  the  great  thoughts  of  the  first  actors 
of  the  revolution,  but  he  had  pitilessly  pointed  out  their  slight- 
est excesses,  and  branded,  without  excuse,  all  their  crimes. 
Such  a  name  must  have  been  violently  discussed  among  the 
ultra  and  suspicious  groups  of  the  people.  "  Why  does  this 
man  come  among  us  ?  "  said  some  :  "  to  deceive  us  ?"  —  "  No," 
replied  others  ;  "he  has  the  conscience  of  honor.  He  will  not 
devote  a  name,  already  celebrated,  to  the  disdain  of  posterity." 
—  "  But  he  is  of  the  blood  of  our  enemies  ;  —  but  he  will  have 
lelations  to  keep  with  the  classes  of  nobility,  with  the  rich 
bourgeois  proprietors,  like  himself;  —  but  he  has  an  inborn 
horror  of  what  these  aristocrats  call  anarchy  ;  —  but  he  has  de- 
fended the  representative  constitution  and  the  peace,  under  the 
last  reign.  He  has,  without  doubt,  a  feeling  for  the  national 
dignity ;  but  he  will  make  agreements  with  foreign  cabinets, 
and  compositions  with  thrones.  These  are  not  the  kind  of  men 
we  need.  The  people  should  have,  in  revolutions,  accomplices, 
and  not  moderators ;  men  who  partake  all  their  passions,  and 
not  men  who  restrain  them.  To  control  a  revolution  is  to 
betray  it!  Let  us  defy  such  masters.  Let  us  not  be  deprived 
a  second  time  of  the  blood  of  the  revolution  at  the  Hotel  de 
Ville.  Let  us  remember  Lafayette  !  Let  us  beware,  lest 
Lamartine  become  a  republican  Lafayette.  If  he  wishes  to 
be  with  us,  let  him  be  our  hostage.  Let  us  force  him  to  serve 
us  as  we  wish,  and  not  as  he  desires!  Or  let  us  replace  these 
names  by  others  taken  from  ourselves.  Or  let  us  join  to  them 
men  who  will  represent  us  in  their  councils,  and  who  will 
answer  to  us  with  their  lives  !  Let  us  stand  ourselves  behind 
them,  with  arms  in  our  hands,  and  let  us  not  permit  them  to 
deliberate  but  in  the  presence  of  the  delegates  of  the  people, 
in  order  that  each  of  their  decrees  may  be  really  a  vote  of  the 
people,  and  that  the  axe  of  the  people  maybe  constantly  visible, 
suspended  over  the  heads  of  those,  who,  in  governing  the  revo- 
lution, may  have  the  desire  to  moderate  it,  and  the  perfidy  to 
betray  it." 

XIL 

These  propositions,  actually  presented  in  the  groups  of  the 
Bastille,  were  applauded  and  voted  with  acclamation,  by  tu- 
multuous ballots.     Men  more  animated,  eloquent,  and  remark- 


192  HISTORY    OF    THE 

able  than  the  rest,  were  designated,  to  til  e  number  of  fourteen, 
to  assist,  in  the  name  of  the  people,  at  tae  deliberations  of  the 
provisional  government.  They  came  to  the  Hotel  de  Villa 
They  were  decorating  themselves  for  some  moments  with  the 
insignia  of  their  mission.  They  wished  to  be  recognized  in 
their  titles  and  attributes  by  the  members  of  the  government. 
Their  voices  were  lost  in  the  midst  of  the  tumult  of  different 
motions,  which  incessantly  resounded  round  the  council-board. 
The  government  Avholly  protested  against  this  tyrannical  pre- 
tension of  taking  away  all  liberty  and  dignity  from  its  deliber- 
ations, by  obliging  it  to  deliberate  under  any  other  influence 
than  that  of  its  conscience  and  its  patriotism.  These  dele- 
gates, at  whose  head  was  Drevet,  a  discreet  and  able  man, 
were  themselves  overwhelmed  by  the  murmurs  of  reprobation, 
which  arose  on  every  side  against  them,  from  the  first  groups, 
who  had  already,  through  sympathy,  surrounded  the  govern- 
ment. Arago,  Ledru  Rollin,  Cremieux,  and  Marie  harangued 
them. 

Lamartine  himself  gained  their  confidence  by  his  frankness. 
"  Either  do  not  take  me,  or  take  me  free,"  said  he,  pressing 
their  hands.  "The  people  is  the  master  of  its  own  confidence, 
but  I  am  the  master  of  my  conscience.  Let  them  depose  me, 
if  they  will ;  but  I  will  not  lower  myself  by  flattering  or 
betraying  them." 

These  men,  of  whom  the  youngest  was  crushed  during  the 
night,  when  heroically  opposing  one  of  the  invasions  of  the 
people  in  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  remained  some  time  confounded 
among  the  crowd  of  assistants.  Afterwards  they  received 
commissions  from  the  government  itself.  They  were  among 
the  number  of  its  most  devoted  auxiliaries,  and  rendered  useful 
services  to  order  and  the  republic, 

XIII. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  day  had  dawned.  The  confused 
army,  composer",  of  the  three  elements  we  have  just  described, 
and  which  the  .'hiefs  of  the  terrorist  and  communist  party  had 
rallied  during  the  night,  began  to  descend  by  small  bands,  and 
agglomerate  in  compact  masses  upon  the  square  and  quays  of 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  as  far  as  the  Bastille. 

The  different  centres,  around  which  these  groups,  at  first 
scattered,  collected,  were  formed  of  from  fifteen  to  twenty  men, 
young,  but  yet  mature,  and  who  appeared  invested  with  a  cer- 


REVOLUTION   OF    1S43.  193 

tain  habitual  or  moral  authority  over  them.  Their  costume 
was  that  intermediate  between  the  hmirgeoisie  and  the  people. 
Their  countenance  was  grave,  their  complexion  pale,  their  look 
concentrated,  and  their  attitude  martial.  Resolute  and  dis- 
ciplined, they  appeared  like  so  many  advanced  posts,  waiting 
before  the  action,  until  the  army,  to  which  they  served  a? 
guides,  should  surround  them.  One  of  the  principal  men  of 
each  of  these  rev^olutionary  groups  carried  a  red  flag,  fabricated 
in  haste  during  the  night,  from  all  the  pieces  of  cloth  of  that 
color  which  they  had  obtained  from  the  shops  in  the  neighbor- 
ing streets.  The  secondary  chiefs  had  red  bracelets  and  belts. 
All  wore,  at  least,  a  red  ribbon  in  the  button-hole  of  their 
coats. 

As  soon  as  the  bands,  armed  with  weapons  of  every  kind, 
with  muskets,  pistols,  swords,  pikes,  bayonets,  and  daggers, 
arrived  upon  the  square,  men,  stationed  for  the  purpose,  un- 
rolled, tore  in  pieces,  distributed  and  threw  to  these  thousands 
of  extended  hands,  strips  of  scarlet,  which  the  rioters  hastened 
to  fasten  to  their  vests,  their  blue  linen  shirts,  and  their  hats. 
In  a  moment  the  red  color,  like  so  many  sparks,  darting  from 
hand  to  hand,  and  from  breast  to  breast,  ran  over  the  entire 
circuit  of  the  quay,  the  streets  and  the  place  de  Greve,  and 
dazzled  or  terrified  the  spectators  stationed  at  the  windows  of 
the  Hotel  de  ViUe. 

Some  groups  of  workmen,  not  initiated  in  the  movement, 
and  running  from  the  distant  quarters  to  offer  their  arms  to 
the  republic,  debouched,  from  time  to  time,  from  the  bridges 
and  the  quays,  marching  under  the  tri-colored  banner,  with 
cries  of  Vive  le  gouvernement  protisoire  !  Astonished  at  the 
change  of  standards,  they  sank  slowly  into  the  crowd,  to  ap- 
proach the  steps  of  the  palace.  Hardly  had  they  proceeded  a 
few  steps,-when  they  were  surrounded,  crowded,  provoked,  and 
sometimes  insulted,  by  the  groups  of  terrorists.  They  imputed 
shame  to  those  colors  which  had  borne  the  liberty,  name  and 
glory  of  France.  They  presented  them  with  another  standard. 
Some  accepted  it  from  astonishment,  and  the  spirit  of  imita- 
tion.    Others  hesitated,  and  lowered  it. 

Some  groups  defended  it  against  the  insults  of  the  red  bands. 
These  flags  were  seen,  in  turn,  beaten  down  or  elevated,  with 
gestures  and  cries  of  fury  and  reciprocal  indignation,  to  float 
in  rags,  or  gradually  disappear  over  the  heads  of  the  multitude. 
They  disappeared  also  from  the  windows  and  roofs  of  the 
houses  in  front.  They  were  replaced  by  the  sinister  color  of 
17* 


194  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  victorious  factioi.  Some  armed  bands,  breaking  through 
the  gates,  and  climl  ing  to  the  summit  of  the  portal,  set  up  the 
red  dag  in  the  place  of  the  tri-colored  banner  in  the  hands  of 
the,  statue  of  Henry  IV.  Two  or  three  of  these  strips  of  scarlet 
were  waved,  by  accomplices,  or  men  who  Avere  intimidated,  from 
the  windows  at  the  angle  of  the  palace.  They  were  saluted 
by  discharges  from  muskets  loaded  with  ball,  which  broke  the 
glass,  as  they  rebounded  into  the  halls. 

The  few  members  of  the  government  who  had  passed  the 
night  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  had  for  their  defence  only  a  small 
number  of  brave  citizens,  united  to  them  by  the  instinct  of  de- 
votion, and  by  the  attraction  which  danger  has  for  noble  hearts. 
Some  calm,  active  and  intrepid  pupils  of  the  Polytechnic 
School,  and  the  School  of  Saint  Cyr,  together  with  the  confused 
and  unknown  mass  of  the  combatants  of  the  evening,  were 
stretched,  with  arms  at  their  sides,  on  the  pavement  of  the 
courts,  and  on  the  steps  of  the  staircases.  But  in  spite  of  the 
efTorts  of  Colonels  Key,  Lagrange,  and  some  other  chiefs 
of  the  combatants,  who  had  been  appointed  or  had  installed 
themselves  in  the  difTerent  commands  of  the  palace  of  the 
people,  these  assailants  of  the  evening,  become  the  defenders 
of  the  morning,  could  resist,  neither  with  hand  nor  heart,  this 
ji  second  billow  of  the  revolution,  coming  to  crowd  back  and  sub- 

f  merge  the  first.     There  were  on  both  sides  the  same  men,  the 

same  costumes,  the  same  language,  the  same  cries;  companions 
of  the  barricades  of  the  night,  meeting,  not  to  fight,  but  to 
unite  and  mutuallj'  congratulate  each  other  upon  the  events  of 
the  morning.  The  feeble  post  of  National  Guards,  drowned  in 
this  ocean  of  armed  men,  was  now  composed  of  only  two  or 
three  courageous  citizens,  whose  names  deserve  the  mention 
of  history.  They  came  to  offer  their  bayonets,  and  demand 
orders.  Lamartine  ordered  them  to  withdraw  into  the  interior, 
waiting  until  the  mayors  of  Paris,  notified  by  Marrast  and 
Marie,  should  succeed  in  assembling-  and  directing-  some  de- 
tachments  to  the  succor  of  thr  assailed  government. 

XIV. 

Hardly  had  these  orders  been  given,  when  bands  of  men, 
meanly  clothed,  recruited  from  the  indigent  faubourgs  and  pre- 
cincts, the  most  remote  at  the  east  and  west  end  of  Paris, 
flowed  in  with  such  torrents,  such  currents,  such  songs,  and 
such  cries,  upon  the  square,  that  thi=  multitude,  already  crowded, 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S48.  195 

undulated  under  the  eye  of  the  spectator,  like  a  sea.  Soon, 
precipitatinor  themselves  with  all  their  weight  against  the 
gates,  they  forced  them,  broke  them  open,  and  were  engulfed, 
pell-mell,  in  the  entrances  of  the  edifice.  They  filled  it,  in  an 
instant,  with  the  crowd,  with  tumult  and  confusion.  We  can- 
not estimate  at  less  than  from  thirty  to  forty  thousand  men 
the  multitude  who  then  covered  the  square,  the  quays,  the 
entrances  of  the  streets,  the  gardens,  the  courts,  the  staircases, 
the  corridors,  and  the  halls  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

The  entrance  of  this  mass  of  people,  preceded  by  the  prin- 
cipal chiefs,  who  had  recruited  them,  and  who  had  breathed 
into  them  their  spirit,  and  given  them  their  watchwords,  was 
followed  by  the  roaring  and  dashing  of  a  tide  that  has  broken 
its  dike. 

The  different  trunks  of  this  crowd  spread  themselves 
throughout  all  parts  of  the  edifice,  vociferating,  gesticulating, 
and  brandishing  their  arms.  They  fired,  here  and  there,  some 
shots,  from  no  other  impulse  but  excitement,  without  other 
motive  than  to  prove  their  arms  and  their  intoxication.  The 
bullets  struck  the  ceiling  and  tore  down  the  entablatures  of  the 
windows  and  the  doors.  The  more  numerous  mass,  who  had 
not  been  able  to  enter,  sang  in  chorus  the  Marseillaise,  without 
cessation.  The  entire  square  was  a  sea  of  faces,  pale,  or  col- 
ored with  emotion,  all  turned  towards  the  facade  of  the  palace, 
with  hands  raised,  and  red  banners  waving  over  their  heads. 
They  imposed,  by  this  sign,  upon  the  government,  the  symbol 
and  signification  of  the  convulsive  republic  which  they  wished 
to  force  upon  it. 

A  small  number  of  the  pupils  of  the  schools,  of  devoted 
men,  and  of  the  combatants  of  the  evening,  already  somewhat 
disciplined  by  the  conflicts  of  the  night,  and  by  the  confidence 
which  the  government  had  reposed  in  them,  by  rallying  them 
round  it,  as  the  first  pretorians  of  the  republic,  had  withdrawn 
before  this  cro^vd,  and  had  taken  refuo^e  on  the  landinfjs  of  the 
staircases,  in  the  narrow  corridors,  and  in  the  apartments,  en- 
cumbered by  the  citizens,  and  the  commotion  that  preceded 
the  siege  of  the  government.  These  invincible  posts,  from  the 
very  impossibility  of  recoiling,  on  account  of  the  general  crowd, 
and  the  resistance  of  the  gates  and  the  walls,  were  in  vain 
crushed  by  the  new  armed  columns  who  threw  themselves  for- 
ward to  the  assault  of  the  government.  They  opposed  a  ram- 
part of  living  bodies  to  these  invasions,  incessantly  recurring, 
and  constantly  repelled. 


196  HISTORY   01    THE 

They  heard  from  the  small  council-chamber  the  roaring'  of 
the  multitude,  the  clang  of  the  combat,  the  chorus  of  the  songs, 
the  shouts  and  vociferations  of  the  people,  the  crashing  of  the 
gates,  the  breaking  of  the  glass,  and  the  resound  of  musket- 
shots.  Furious  dialogues  were  commenced  between  the  chiefs 
and  orators  of  the  assailants  and  the  groups  who  defended  the 
access  of  the  reserved  apartments.  At  each  moment  more  ter- 
rible shocks,  striking  against  the  vanguard  of  citizens,  who 
filled  the  ante-chambers  or  passages,  communicated  even  to  the 
doors  of  the  council-room,  shook  them,  and  overthrew  on  the 
flag-stones  of  the  corridors  those  who  were  trampled  upon  by 
such  as  preserved  their  footing. 

"  Let  us  speak  to  this  g-ov^mment  of  men,  unknown  to  us, 
and  suspected  by  the  people,"  cried  the  leaders,  and  repeated 
the  fanatical  mob  behind  them.  "  Wlio  are  they  ?  What  are 
they  doing  ?  What  kind  of  a  republic  do  they  weave  for  us  ? 
Is  it  that  kind  of  republic  where  the  rich  continue  to  enjoy  and 
the  poor  to  suffer  ?  where  the  manufacturer  can  put  us  to  work 
by  condemning  us  to  wages  or  to  famine  ?  where  the  capitalist 
is  able  to  make  conditions  for  the  use  of  his  capital,  or  bury  it  ? 
Is  it  that  republic  which,  after  having  been  conquered  by  our 
blood,  will  content  itself  with  washing  the  pavements,  to  pennit 
the  carriages  of  the  wealthy  to  roll  over  them  anew,  splashing  with 
mud  the  people's  rags  ?  Is  it  that  republic  which  will  overlook 
the  vices  of  society  in  the  head,  and  which  will  punish  them  in 
the  members  ?  which  will  have  neither  judges,  nor  veng-eance, 
nor  scaffolds  for  traitors  ?  which  will  be  humane  at  the  expense 
of  humanity  ?  which  will  have  relations  with  tyrants,  priests, 
nobles,  bourgeois,  and  proprietor  ?  and  which  will  bring  back 
to  us,  under  another  name,  all  the  abuses,  the  privileges,  and 
the  wickedness  of  royalty  ?  No,  no,  no  !  "  added  those  most 
exasperated ;  "  these  are  not  men  of  our  race  ;  we  have  no  con- 
fidence in  those  who  have  not  undergone  the  same  privations 
as  ourselves  —  who  do  not  share  the  same  resentments  —  who 
do  not  speak  the  same  language  —  who  do  not  dress  in  the  same 
rags !  Let  us  destroy  them,  drive  them  away,  and  deprive 
them  of  their  usurped  authority,  surprised  and  wrested  from  us 
in  the  night.  We  wish  to  make  our  republic  for  ourselves ;  we 
wish  that  the  government  of  the  people  should  proceed  from  the 
people,  —  composed  of  men  kno\vn  to  and  beloved  by  them. 
Down  with  the  flag  of  royalty,  which  r(  minds  us  of  our  servi- 
tude and  its  crimes  !  Hurra  for  the  rec  flag,  the  s)aubol  of  our 
freedom ! " 


_J 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S48.  197 

XV. 

Thus  spoke,  in  the  groups,  these  orators,  who  themselves,  for 
the  most  part,  iffected  the  miser)'  and  resentments  of  the  people, 
whose  labors  andsulfering  they  did  not  in  fact  partake.  In  the 
same  way  as  antiquity  had  hired  mourners  to  feign  grief  and 
tears,  the  terrorist  party  had  that  day  these  men,  furious  from 
calculation,  to  feign  the  hunger,  the  misery,  and  resentments  of 
the  people.  Yet,  behind  them,  the  people  were  recognized,  — 
with  their  miseries  but  too  real,  and  their  confused  aspirations  for 
equality,  well-being,  and  sometimes  of  envy,  —  responding  to 
these  orators  with  their  looks,  their  gestures,  and  their  hearts ; 
they  applauded  their  words,  brandished  their  arms,  and  broke 
out  in  suspicions  and  imprecations  against  the  government. 

The  calm  and  well-intentioned  republicans  endeavored  to  ap- 
pease these  men :  they  represented  to  them,  that  if  the  mem- 
bers of  the  new  government  had  wished  to  plot  treason  against 
the  people,  and  a  return  to  royaltj'-,  they  would  not,  during  the 
evening,  have  proclaimed  the  republic  ;  that  if  their  names 
were  not,  in  the  eyes  of  the  multitude,  sufficient  guarantee  of 
their  political  honesty,  their  lives  were  pledges  of  their  fidelity 
to  the  revolution,  into  whose  bosom  they  had  freely  and 
courageously  thrown  themselves.  That  for  the  government  of 
a  grave  and  intelligent  nation  like  France,  there  was  need  of 
men  skilled  in  affairs  at  home  and  abroad ;  of  men  who  knew 
how  to  speak,  to  write,  to  administer,  and  command,  from  edu- 
cation and  habit ;  that  these  had  been  chosen  durinof  the  evening 
by  public  acclamation,  to  save  the  country  and  the  people  them- 
selves ;  that  they  had  set  their  feet,  with  intrepidity,  in  blood, 
in  order  to  stop  the  bloodshed :  that  in  a  few  hours  they  had 
done  much ;  that  it  was  necessary  to  give  them  time  to  do  yet 
more,  and  then  to  judge  of  their  work. 

XVI. 

These  words  made  an  impression  upon  the  most  reasonable 
part  of  the  crou  d.  "  Ah !  weU,"  said  these  men,  who  came 
from  the  ranks  to  press  the  hands  of  the  friends  of  order  and  of 
the  government ;  "  you  are  right ;  we  cannot  govern  ourselves  ; 
we  have  not  the  necessary  education  to  understand  men  and 
affairs  :  let  each  one  have  his  trade  ;  these  men  are  honorable  ; 
they  have  been  in  the  opposition,  and  on  the  side  of  the  people, 
under  the  last  government.     Let  them  govern  us  —  we  desire 


198  HISTORY    OF    THE 

it ;  but  let  them  govern  us  as  we  wish,  —  in  our  interest,  under 
our  flag,  in  our  presence.  Let  them  tell  us  what  they  mean  to 
do  with  us  and  for  us ;  let  them  set  up  our  colors ;  let  them 
surround  themselves  with  us  alone  ;  let  them  deliberate  in  the 
full  presence  of  the  people  ;  let  a  certain  number,  chosen  from 
ourselves,  assist  in  all  their  decrees,  and  all  their  opinions,  to 
answer  for  them  to  us,  and  to  take  from  them,  not  only  the 
temptation,  but  the  possibility,  of  deceiving  us," 

The  most  frantic  applause  broke  forth  at  these  last  proposals. 
Not  to  violate  the  government,  but  to  surround  it,  to  rule  it,  to 
enslave  it,  to  force  from  it  the  change  of  the  revolutionary  ban- 
ner, the  measures  of  '93,  proscriptions,  confiscations,  popular 
tribunals,  the  proclamation  of  the  dangers  of  the  country,  dec- 
laration of  war  against  all  thrones  ;  that  extreme  rule,  in  fine, 
which,  to  rouse  a  nation  and  throw  it  wholly  into  the  hands  of 
faction,  has  need  of  war  on  the  boundaries,  and  the  scaffold  in 
the  centre.  Add  to  this  programme  of  the  republic  of  '93,  the 
open  struggle  of  the  destitute  against  the  bourgeoisie,  of  wages 
against  capital,  of  the  workman  against  the  manufacturer,  and 
of  the  consumer  against  the  trader.  Such  was  the  purport, 
violently  discussed,  of  the  resolutions,  the  speeches,  and  vocif- 
erations, which  proceeded  from  the  groups  of  the  assailants. 

XVII. 

But  this  spirit  was  far  from  being  unanimous  and  without 
opposers  among  the  crowd  of  good  citizens,  which  increased 
every  hour  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

The  terrorists  and  communists  inspired  horror  and  fear  in 
the  enlightened  and  courageous  republicans,  who  pressed,  since 
the  evening,  around  a  moderating  centre  of  government. 
These,  like  the  vast  majority  of  the  people  of  Paris,  saw  in  the 
republic  a  humane  and  magnanimous  emancipation  of  all  the 
classes,  without  oppression  for  any.  They  saw  in  it  a  reform 
of  justice,  an  equitable,  rational,  and  progressive  amelioration 
of  political,  civil,  and  possessive  society.  They  were  far  from 
seeing  in  it  a  subversion  of  property,  of  family,  and  of  fortunes  ; 
a  sacrifice  of  one  or  two  generations,  for  the  realization  of  im- 
practicable chimeras,  or  execrable  passions. 

They  endeavored  to  bring  back  to  these  opinions,  to  reason 
and  to  confidence  in  the  government,  the  floating  and  unde- 
cided mass  of  these  noor  and  ignorant  men,  collected  from  the 
faubourgs.     These  hud  set  up  the  red  flag  only  because  that 


REVOLUTION    OF    1B48.  199 

color  excites  men,  as  well  as  brutes.  They  followed  the  com- 
munists, without  comprehending  them.  They  vociferated  with 
the  terrorists,  without  having  their  thirst  or  impatience  for  blood. 
The  good  workmen,  the  republicans,  the  combatants,  even  the 
wounded,  s-poke  to  these  bands,  more  misled  than  guilty,  with 
the  authority  of  their  opinion,  which  could  not  be  suspected; 
and  of  their  blood,  which  had  been  shed  in  the  evening,  for  the 
same  cause.  They  succeeded  in  sowing  some  doubt  and  inde- 
cision among  them. 

Sometimes  these  men,  melted  by  the  reproaches,  the  suppli- 
cations, and  the  sight  of  the  blood  of  their  companions  of  the 
evening,  threw  themselves  into  the  arms  of  those  who  addressed 
them.  They  burst  into  tears,  and  united  with  them  to  preach 
patience,  concord,  and  moderation,  A  certain  fluctuation  was 
perceived  in  the  masses,  as  in  their  minds. 

But  all  the  means  appeared  to  have  been  ably  combined,  either 
by  chance  or  by  the  leaders  of  the  day,  to  neutralize  this  power 
of  good  example ;  to  excite,  even  to  madness,  by  all  the  senses, 
the  irritation  of  the  people,  and  to  lead  them  on  to  the  most 
desperate  resolutions  :  the  spectacle  of  their  own  misery,  which, 
by  inspiring  them  with  compassion  for  themselves,  must  urge 
them  to  vengeance  against  the  rich  classes ;  the  intoxication, 
increased  by  the  smell  and  reports  of  gunpowder,  as  well  as 
by  wine  ;  in  fine,  the  sight  of  blood,  which  so  easily  excites  the 
thirst  for  it. 

Nothing  appeared,  either  naturally  or  from  design,  to  have 
been  omitted  to  produce  this  triple  effect  upon  the  senses  of 
the  multitude.  A  crowd  in  rags,  without  shoes,  without 
hats,  clothed  in  garments  torn  to  shreds,  which  exposed  the 
nakedness  of  their  limbs,  stood  in  the  courts,  and  strowed,  with 
livid  faces,  and  arms  attenuated  by  want,  the  steps  between  the 
entrance  and  the  courts  of  the  palace.  Men  intoxicated  with 
brandy  reeled  here  and  there  upon  the  staircases ;  they  stam- 
rnered  inarticulate  cries,  threw  themselves  headlong  upon  the 
rioters,  and  brandished  before  them,  with  the  blind  and  brutal 
awkwardness  of  drunkenness,  stumps  of  swords,  which  were 
torn  from  their  hands.  In  fine,  from  minute  to  minute,  men 
half-naked,  with  shirts  stained  with  blood,  went  through  the 
multitude  who  opened  respectfully  before  them  bearing  the 
bodies  of  the  dead.  The  arches,  the  courts,  the  steps  of  the 
great  staircase,  the  salle  Saint-Jean,  were  strowed  with  dead 
bodies.  All  the  zeal  of  the  physicians,  Thierry  and  Samson, 
aided  by  their  officers  of  health,  who  signalized  themselves  by 


200  HISTORY    OF   THE 

their  intrepid  humanity,  could  not  succeed  in  removing  and 
piling  up  these  dead.  It  is  not  known  whence  they  came,  nor 
why  they  brought  them  thus  to  this  only  part  of  the  city,  from 
which  they  should  have  been  removed  from  the  sight  of  the 
people.  There  was  one  moment  when  the  physician,  Samson, 
approaching  Lamartine,  whispered  in  his  ear :  "  The  dead  are 
sinking  us.  Their  bodies  at  first  terrify,  but  afterwards  still 
more  inflame  the  passione  of  the  multitude.  If  they  continue 
to  bring  them  to  us  thus,  from  all  the  ambulances  and  hosp  .tals 
of  Paris,  I  know  not  what  will  become  of  us." 

XVIII. 

But  while  the  men,  bearing  the  dead  bodies  of  their  brethren 
slain  in  the  three  combats,  carried  them  solemnly  and  like  a 
holy  burden,  we  know  not  by  whose  order,  to  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  bands  of  senseless  men  and  ferocious  boys  sought  here 
and  there  for  the  dead  bodies  of  horses,  drowned  in  the  pools  of 
blood.  They  passed  cords  around  their  breasts,  and  dragged 
them,  with  laughter  and  howling,  over  the  place  de  Greve,  and 
then  threw  them  into  the  vault  at  the  foot  of  the  staircase  of 
the  palace.  Hideous  spectacle,  which  imbrued  the  thoughts, 
as  well  as  the  feet,  of  this  multitude  in  blood.  As  soon  as  one 
dead  body  had  been  thus  deposited,  these  bands  went  to  seek 
another.  The  lower  court-yard  of  the  prefecture  of  Paris  was 
obstructed  by  these  carcasses,  and  watered  with  these  pools  of 
blood. 

Within,  the  tumult  constantly  increased.  The  violence  of 
the  factious  encountered  moral  resistance  and  salutary  counsels 
from  the  crowd  of  good  citizens,  and  the  magnanimity  of  the 
combatants,  among  whom  they  had  thrown  themselves.  These 
simple  men,  led  on  by  signals  and  watchwords,  whose  anarchi- 
cal and  sanguinary  meaning  they  only  half  comprehended, 
were  astonished  at  the  sight  of  those  wounded  in  the  evening ; 
men  stained  with  powder  and  in  rags,  like  themselves,  who 
reproached  them  for  their  impatience  and  their  fury,  and  cursed 
them  in  the  name  of  the  republic,  attacked  by  them  on  the 
very  morning  of  its  birth.  Some  resisted  these  counsels ; 
others  yielded,  hesitated,  or  recoiled  before  the  commission  of 
an  outrage.  All  floated,  at  random,  from  audacity  to  repent- 
ance, from  crime  to  remorse.  Their  chiefs  could  only  succeed, 
by  force  of  declamation,  intoxication,  exposure  of  dead  bodies, 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  201 

and  musket- shots,  in  leading  them  on  to  successive  assaults 
against  the  seat  of  government. 

Marie,  al.vays  impassible;  Gamier  Pages,  always  devoted; 
Cremieux,  always  attractive  in  his  gestures  and  eloquence,  had 
been  alone  there,  since  the  evening,  with  Lamartine.  Flocon 
struggled  below  in  the  square  with  another  mob  of  many  thou- 
sand men,  who  demanded  the  surrender  of  Vincennes,  and  the 
pillage  of  that  arsenal.  Flocon,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  calmed 
this  mass,  a  long  time  deaf  to  his  representations.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  ruling  them,  being  unable  to  disband  them.  He 
marched  on  Vincennes,  distributed  only  some  thousands  of  mus- 
kets, reclosed  the  gates,  confirmed  the  commandants,  reestab- 
lished the  counter-signs,  and  saved  its  arsenal  for  the  republic, 
by  taking  away  from  anarchy  the  powder,  cannon  and  arms, 
which  it  would  have  turned  against  the  people  themselves. 

XIX. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  chiefs  and  first  ranks  of  the  column  of 
insurgents  temporarily  penetrated  into  the  narrow  and  encum- 
bered corridors,  where  they  were  stifled  by  their  own  masses. 
They  harassed  the  members  of  government.  They  constantly 
addressed  them  with  the  most  imperious  injunctions. 

"  We  wish  an  account  of  the  hours  that  you  have  already 
lost,  or  too  well  employed,  in  quieting  and  putting  off  the  revo- 
lution," said  these  orators,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  sweat 
upon  their  brows,  foam  upon  their  lips,  and  menace  in  their 
eyes.  "  We  wish  the  red  flag,  that  standard  of  victory  for  us, 
and  of  terror  for  our  enemies.  We  wish  that  a  decree  should 
instantly  declare  it  the  only  flag  of  the  republic.  We  wish 
that  the  National  Guard  should  be  disarmed,  and  their  muskets 
divided  among  the  people.  We  wish  to  reign,  in  our  turn,  over 
that  bourgeoisie^  the  accomplice  of  all  monarchies,  that  sell  to 
it  our  sweat;  over  that  bourgeoisie  which  makes  the  most  ot 
royalties  for  its  profit,  but  which  does  not  know  how  either  to 
inspire  or  defend  them  !  We  wish  the  immediate  declaration 
of  war  against  all  thrones  and  aristocracies.  We  wish  the 
country  to  be  declared  in  danger;  the  arrest  of  all  the  minis- 
ters, past  and  present,  of  the  monarchy,  who  are  now  in 
flight ;  the  trial  of  the  king ;  the  restitution  of  its  property  to 
the  nation;  terror  for  traitors;  the  axe  of  the  people  suspended 
over  the  head  of  its  eternal  enemies.  What  sort  of  a  revolu- 
tion, with  your  fair  words,  do  you  wish  to  make  for  us  ?  We 
IS 


202  HISTORY    OF    THE 

must  have  a  revolution  signalized  with  deeds  and  blood,  a  rev- 
olution which  can  neither  stop  in  its  progress  nor  retrace  its 
steps.  Are  you  the  revolutionists  of  such  a  .evolution  ?  Are 
you  the  republicans  of  such  a  republic  ?  No  !  you  are  like  your 
accomplices  in  idle  talk,  Giro7idists  at  heart,  aristocrats  by  birth, 
lawyers  of  the  tribune,  bourgeois  by  custom,  perhaps  traitors ! 
Make  room  for  true  revolutionists,  or  pledge  yourselves  to  them 
by  these  measures !  Serve  us  as  we  wish  to  be  served,  or 
beware  !  "  Thus  speaking,  some  threw  their  naked  swords  upon 
the  table,  in  token  that  they  would  not  sheathe  them  till  they 
had  been  obeyed. 

While  murmurs  and  applause  replied  from  hall  to  hall  to 
these  speeches.  Gamier  Pages,  Marie,  Cremieux,  and  Lamar- 
tine,  did  not  allow  themselves  to  be  insulted  or  intimidated  by 
these  orators.  They  looked  them  in  the  face,  with  their  arms 
crossed  upon  their  breasts,  calming  them  by  their  gestures,  fas- 
cinating them  by  the  impassibility  of  their  countenance  and 
their  attitude.  Authority  is  so  necessary  to  men  that  its  dis- 
armed image  alone  impresses  with  involuntary  respect  even 
those  who  brave  it.  Hardly  had  these  orators  spoken,  exciting 
themselves  by  the  frenzy  of  their  gestures  and  the  harshness 
of  their  accent,  when  they  seemed  to  be  terrified  at  what  they 
had  said,  and  to  feel  horror  at  their  own  audacity.  Some  burst 
into  tears,  others  fell  fainting  into  the  arms  of  their  comrades. 
Blarie  spoke  to  them  with  austerity,  Cremieux  with  fervor, 
Gamier  Pages  with  tenderness  ;  Louis  Blanc,  who  came  unex- 
pectedly, aided  the  government  by  his  credit  with  the  masses. 
Good  citizens,  the  pupils  of  the  military  schools,  the  mayors  of 
Paris,  well  known  to  the  people,  old  republicans,  like  Marrast 
and  Bastide,  pressed  their  hands,  admonished  them,  and  inter- 
posed between  them  and  the  government.  Interviews  were 
established,  at  intervals,  in  different  parts  of  the  hall.  The 
most  violent,  moved  or  melted,  ended  by  allowing  themselves 
to  be  induced  to  vacate  the  first  floor.  Thej''  went  back  to  ren- 
der an  account  to  the  multitude  of  what  they  had  seen,  of  what 
they  had  said,  and  of  the  answers  they  had  received.  They 
repressed,  for  a  moment,  the  sedition.  It  was  organized  else- 
where by  the  voice  of  other  chiefs,  more  implacable  and  more 
determined.  They  pushed  forward  to  new  assaults,  which 
must  end  in  carrying  by  storm,  or  imbruing  with  blood,  the  last 
and  narrow  asylum  which  remained  to  resistance. 

The  government,  thus  besieged,  would  not  have  had  too 
much,  with  all  its  moral  forces,  to  overawe  tne  sedition.      But 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  203 

the  sedition  itself  separated  the  members  present  from  a  part 
of  their  colleagues. 

Dupont  de  I'Eure,  whose  old  age  would  attract  respect; 
Arago,  whose  manly  form  and  celebrated  name  added  strength 
to  each  other ;  Ledru  RoUin,  whose  name,  countenance  and 
eloquence,  find  sympathy  wdth  the  destitute,  were  absent.  The 
two  first,  overcome  by  weariness,  after  their  magnanimous 
efforts  of  the  evening.  The  third  came  in  the  morning,  from 
the  office  of  the  interior,  to  rejoin  the  centre  of  government,  but, 
plunged  in  this  ocean  of  people,  who  were  pressing  and  crush- 
ing at  the  entrances  of  the  edifice,  he  found  it  impossible  to 
reach  the  floor  where  the  council  sat.  He  had  even  been  im- 
prisoned by  the  tumult  in  one  of  the  lower  halls,  without  com- 
munication with  what  was  passing  above  him.  He  had, 
finally,  withdrawn,  to  await  a  more  free  approach,  and  to 
organize  without  some  of  the  elements  of  order.  Louis  Blanc 
did  not  yet  form  a  part  of  the  provisional  government.  They 
had  only  admitted  him  under  the  title  of  secretary,  the  same 
as  Flocon,  Albert,  Marrast,  Pagnerre,  to  fortify  themselves  with 
all  the  popularity  of  talent,  eloquence,  and  reaction. 

Louis  Blanc  tried  at  this  moment,  for  the  first  time,  upon 
the  masses,  the  power  of  his  name  and  his  eloquence.  He  ex- 
ercised it,  we  must  acknowledge,  with  the  design  of  procuring 
tranquillity  and  moderation,  less  impressed,  however,  than  his 
colleagues  with  the  danger  of  yielding  the  flag  of  the  nation 
and  the  ensign  of  the  republic  to  a  party  of  the  insurgents. 
Louis  Blanc  believed  that  this  concession  would  be  the  signal  of 
concord,  and  that  this  portion  of  the  people,  satisfied  with  their 
victor}"-  on  this  point,  would  renounce  the  violent  opinions  and 
ill-boding  measures  which  it  did  not  cease  to  urge^upon  the 
government.  Favored  by  his  small  figure,  he  constantly  de- 
scended and  ascended  from  the  government  to  the  mob,  gliding 
through  the  ranks  of  the  terrorists,  now  haranguing  the  most 
excited  groups,  who  were  shaken  by  his  voice  ;  now  supplicate 
ing  his  colleagues  to  avoid  the  last  excesses  of  the  multitude, 
and  accept  the  red  flag,  if  it  were  only  for  the  moment,  and  to 
disarm  the  people.  Musket-shots  resounded  at  intervals,  and 
bullets  had  just  struck  against  the  windows,  as  the  summons 
and  ultimatum  of  the  armed  and  impatient  crowd ;  these  cries 
of  fifty  thousand  voices,  and  these  musket-shots  upon  the 
square,  too  often  gave  truth  and  force  to  the  considerations  pre- 
sented by  the  young  tribune.  Louis  Blanc  was  not  an  accom- 
plice ;  he  wished  to  be  a  peace-maker ;  but  Ihe  people  would  not 


204  HISTORY    OF   THE 

retire,  except  upon  conditions  which  the  government  persisted 
energetically  in  refusing. 

At  this  time  a  tumult,  with  more  sinister  noise,  broke  forth 
in  the  passages,  which  prevented,  by  their  crowded  state,  any 
access  to  the  seat  of  government.  An  assault  of  the  people 
made  the  arches  tremble,  the  walls  groan,  the  gates  yield,  and 
caused  the  pupils  of  the  school  and  the  bold  combatants  to  fall 
over  one  another,  as  they  opposed  the  weight  of  their  bodies, 
and  the  rampart  of  their  levelled  muskets,  to  this  invasion.  A 
mass  of  people  forced  by  the  sentinels,  penetrated  into  the 
apartment,  shouting,  and  brandishing  all  kinds  of  arms,  sur- 
rounded and  pressed  upon  the  government. 

These  men  came,  they  said,  to  bring  the  last  summons  of 
the  people,  and  to  carry  back  to  them  the  last  word  of  the  rev- 
olution. They  had  chosen  for  their  orator  a  young  workman, 
who  was  a  mechanic,  the  Spartacus  of  this  army  of  the  intelli- 
gent destitute. 

He  was  a  man  of  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  years  of  age, 
small,  but  straight  in  form  ;  he  was  strong,  and  had  a  firm  and 
manly  carriage  of  his  limbs  ;  his  face,  blackened  by  the  smoke 
of  powder,  was  pale  with  emotion  ;  his  lips  trembled  with  rage  ; 
his  eyes,  sunk  under  a  prominent  brow,  flashed  fire.  The  elec- 
tricity of  the  people  was  concentrated  in  his  look.  His  coun- 
tenance had,  at  once,  a  reflective  yet  mazy  expression  ;  strange 
contrast,  which  is  found  in  certain  faces,  where  a  mistaken 
opinion  has  nevertheless  become  a  sincere  conviction,  and  an 
obstinate  pursuit  of  the  impossible  !  He  rolled  in  his  left  hand 
a  strip  of  ribbon  or  red  stuff.  He  held  in  his  right  hand  the 
barrel  of  a  carbine,  the  butt-end  of  which  he  struck  with  force 
upon  the  floor  at  every  word.  He  appeared,  at  once,  intimi- 
dated and  resolute.  One  could  see  that  he  had  strengthened 
himself  against  all  weakness  ahd  accommodation,  by  a  firm 
determination  previously  taken.  He  seemed  to  feel  and  to 
hear  behind  him  the  vast  and  furious  people,  whose  organ 
he  was,  who  listened  to  him,  and  who  demanded  of  him  an 
account  of  his  words.  He  turned  his  looks  in  vacancy  round 
the  hall ;  he  did  not  rest  them  on  any  face,  for  fear  of  meeting 
another  eye,  and  becoming  involuntarily  influenced.  He 
swayed  his  head  constantly  from  left  to  right,  and  from  right 
to  left,  as  if  he  was  refuting  within  himself  the  objections  they 
would  oppose  to  him.  It  was  the  statue  of  obstinacy;  —  the 
last  incarnate  word  of  a  multitude  that  felt  its  power,  and  that 
no  longer  desired  to  yield  to  reason. 


'  :rary 

-  THE 
UNIVERSI.  /  OF  ILLIf  OIS 


11 


♦>. 


LAMARTINE  ADDRESSING  THE  PEOPLE. 

Vol.1,    p.  206. 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  205 

He  spoke  wi'th  that  rude  and  brutal  eloquence  which  admits 
of  no  reply ;  which  does  not  discuss,  but  which  commands. 
His  feverish  tongue  was  glued  to  his  parched  lips.  He  had 
those  terril)le  hesitations  which  irritate  and  redouble,  in  the 
uncultivated  man,  the  rage  of  his  suppressed  emotion,  from  his 
very  want  of  power  to  articulate  his  fury.  His  gestures  helped 
out  the  meaning  of  his  words.  Every  one  was  standing,  and 
in  silence,  to  listen  to  him. 

XX. 

He  spoke  not  as  a  man,  but  in  the  name  of  the  people,  who 
wished  to  be  obeyed,  and  who  did  not  mean  to  wait.  He  pre- 
scribed the  hours  and  minutes  for  the  submission  of  govern- 
ment. He  commanded  it  to  perfonn  miracles.  He  repeated 
to  it,  with  accents  of  greater  energy,  all  the  conditions  of  the 
programme  of  impossibilities  which  the  tumultuous  cries  of 
the  people  had  enjoined  it  to  accept  and  to  realize  on  the  in- 
stant :  —  the  overthrow  of  all  known  society  ;  the  destruction  of 
property  and  capitalists  ;  spoliation  ;  the  immediate  installation 
of  the  destitute  into  the  community  of  goods ;  the  proscription 
of  the  bankers,  the  wealthy,  the  manufacturers,  the  bourgeois 
of  every  condition  above  the  receivers  of  salaries ;  a  govern- 
ment, with  an  axe  in  its  hand,  to  level  all  the  superiorities  of 
birth,  competence,  inheritance,  and  even  of  labor ;  in  fine,  the 
acceptance,  without  reply,  and  without  delay,  of  the  red  flag, 
to  signify  to  society  its  defeat ;  to  the  people,  their  victory ;  to 
Paris,  terror  ;  to  all  foreign  governments,  invasion :  each  of 
these  injunctions  was  supported,  by  the  orator,  with  a  blow 
of  the  butt  of  his  musket  upon  the  floor,  by  frantic  applause 
from  those  who  were  behind  him,  and  a  salute  of  shots,  fired 
on  the  square. 

The  members  of  the  government,  and  the  small  number  of 
ministers  and  friends  who  surrounded  them,  Buchez,  Barthc- 
lemy  St.  Hilaire  and  Payer,  listened  to  these  injunctions  to 
the  end,  without  interruption,  as  one  listens  to  delirium,  from 
fear  of  aggravating  by  contradicting  it.  But  this  delirium  was 
at  this  moment  that  of  sixty  thousand  armed  men,  masters  of 
everything.  There  were  moments  when  the  government, 
despairing  of  the  public  safety,  under  the  pressure  of  such  a 
tumult,  lowered  its  head,  collected  itself,  and  resolved  to  die 
upon  the  breach,  rather  than  to  raise  the  standard  of  the  dis- 
tress and  terror  of  society,  which  it  protected  with  its  body. 
18* 


206  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Cremieux,  Marie,  Gamier  Pages,  Marrast,  Buchez,  Flottard, 
and  Louis  Blanc  himself,  replied  to  the  injunctions  of  the  ora- 
tor of  the  people,  with  the  intrepidity,  dignity,  force  and  logic, 
which  the  reaction  of  such  violence  excites  in  men  of  feeling. 
Others  tried  to  seduce  and  win,  by  all  the  blandishments 
of  language  and  gesture,  the  stoical  roughness  of  this  man, 
and  the  partakers  of  his  passion.  All  was  useless  ;  they  closed 
their  ears  to  the  words,  and  their  eyes  to  the  gestures.  The 
instant  proclamation  of  the  revolutionary  government,  and  the  red 
flag  raised  without  reflection,  was  the  only  answer  of  these  men 
of  iron.  The  less  man  is  enlightened,  the  more  is  he  obsti- 
nate. He  calls  in  the  aid  of  violence  to  obtain  whatever  he 
cannot  acquire  by  reason.  Tyranny  is  the  reason  of  brutality. 
When  a  man  can  neither  convince  nor  be  convinced,  he  be- 
comes obstinate.  Such  was  the  people  on  that  day ;  such  they 
have  since  tried  to  make  it  again. 

XXI. 

Lamartine,  standing  in  the  embrasure  of  a  window,  looked, 
in  consternation,  now  on  this  scene,  now  upon  the  heads  of 
the  people,  who  swayed  to  and  fro  in  the  square,  while  the 
smoke  of  the  firing,  floating  over  these  thousands  of  faces, 
formed  the  halo  of  glory  round  the  red  flag.  He  saw  the  efforts 
of  his  colleagues  powerless  against  the  obstinacy  of  these 
envoys  of  the  people. 

He  was  irritated  by  this  insolent  defiance  of  an  armed  man, 
who  constantly  presented  his  carbine,  as  a  powerful  argument, 
to  men  who  were  disarmed,  indeed,  but  who  knew  how  to  look 
death  in  the  face.  He  broke  through  the  groups  which  sepa- 
rated him  from  the  orator.  He  approached  this  man,  and  took 
him  by  the  arm.  The  man  shuddered,  and  sought  to  disen- 
gage it,  as  if  he  feared  the  fascination  of  another  being.  He 
turned,  with  a  disquietude  at  once  savage  and  timid,  towards 
his  companions,  as  if  to  ask  them  what  he  should  do. 

"  It  is  Lamartine,"  said  some  of  the  members  of  his  party. 

"  Lamartine,"  cried  the  orator,  with  defiance,  "  what  does 
he  want  with  me  ?  I  do  not  wish  to  hear  him  ;  I  wish  the 
people  to  be  obeyed  upon  the  spot ;  or  if  not,"  added  he,  en- 
deavoring to  disengage  his  arm,  "  lullets,  and  no  more  words. 
Leave  me,  Lamartine !  "  continued  he,  still  moving  his  arm, 
to  disengage  it;  "I  am  a  simple  man.  I  do  not  know  how  to 
defend  myself  by  words.     I  do  not  know  how  to  answer  by 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  207 

ideas.  But  I  know  how  to  will.  I  will,  what  the  peaple  have 
charged  me  to  say  here.  Do  not  speak  to  me  !  Do  not  de- 
ceive me  I  Do  not  lull  me  to  sleep  by  your  eloquence  of 
tongue  !  Behold  a  tongue  that  cuts  everything,  a  tongue  of 
fire ! "  said  he,  while  striking  on  the  barrel  of  his  carbine. 
"  There  shall  be  no  other  interpreter  between  you  and  us." 

Lamartine  smiled  at  this  expression  of  the  poor  man, 
still  retaining  him  by  the  arm.  "  You  speak  well,"  said  he. 
"  you  speak  better  than  I  do  ;  the  people  has  well  chosen  its 
interpreter.  But  it  is  not  enough  to  speak  well;  we  must 
listen  to  the  language  of  reason,  which  God  has  bestowed  on 
men  of  good  faith  and  good  will,  that  they  might  be  able  to 
explain  themselves  to  one  another,  to  aid,  instead  of  destroying 
each  other.  A  sincere  speech  is  peace  among  men.  Obstinate 
silence  is  war.  Do  you  wish  for  war  and  blood  ?  We  accept 
it ;  our  heads  are  devoted;  but  then,  how  the  war  and  blood 
will  fall  back  upon  those  who  have  not  wished  to  listen  to  us  !  " 
—  "  Yes  !  yes  !  Lamartine  is  right !  Listen  to  Lamartine  !  " 
cried  his  comrades. 

XXIL 

Lamartine  then  spoke  to  this  man  with  that  accent  of  per- 
suasive sincerity  which  he  felt  in  his  heart,  and  which  the  se- 
riousness of  the  time  rendered  deeper  and  more  religious.  He 
represented  to  him  that  revolutions  were  great  battles,  where 
the  conquerors  had  more  need  of  chiefs  after  the  victory  than 
during  the  combat ;  that  the  people,  however  sublime  it  was 
in  action,  and  however  respectable  it  was  in  the  opinion 
of  the  statesman,  had,  in  the  tumult  of  the  public  square,  neither 
the  coolness,  nor  the  moderation,  nor  the  light,  requisite  to 
save  itself,  by  its  own  unaided  exertions,  from  the  dangers  of 
its  own  triumph  ;  that  the  action  of  government,  at  home  and 
abroad,  did  not  consist  in  shouting  this  or  that  unreflected 
revolution,  with  arms  in  hand,  at  the  will  of  this  or  that  popu- 
lar orator,  nor  in  writing  with  the  point  of  the  bayonet  arbi- 
trary, violent,  and  often  unjust  decrees  upon  a  table  of  conspir- 
ators ;  that  it  was  necessary  to  think,  to  weigh,  to  appreciate, 
in  liberty,  in  conscience,  and  with  silence,  the  rights,  the  inter- 
ests, and  the  desires,  of  a  nation  of  nearly  forty  millions  of 
men,  all  having  equal  title  to  the  justice  and  protection  of  a 
government ;  that  it  was  necessary,  besides,  to  know  that 
Paris  was  not  all  France,  nor  France  all  Europe  ;  that  the 
safety  of  the  people  consisted  in  balancing  these  great  interests, 


208 


HISTORY    OF   THE 


one  against  the  other,  and  to  do  justice  to  the  suffering  portion 
of  the  people,  without  doing  injustice  and  violence  to  other  cit- 
izens and  other  nations ;  that  a  people  who  had  neither  the 
patience  nor  the  confidence  in  their  chiefs  to  await  prosperity 
would  become  a  slaughtered  people  ;  that  it  would  be  to  plunge 
into  disorder  and  anarchy  the  most  fruitful  revolutions  ;  that  the 
chiefs  who  lowered  themselves  to  be  only  the  instruments  of  the 
changing  will  and  tumultuous  impulses  of  the  multitude  would 
be  beneath  the  multitude  itself,  for,  without  being  subject  to  its 
madness,  they  would  execute  its  madness  and  its  fury  ;  that  such 
a  government,  at  the  nod  and  beck  of  the  crowd,  would  be 
equally  unworthy  of  the  nation  and  the  devoted  men  who  had 
interposed  between  it  and  anarchy  ;  that  if  the  people  wished 
such  servants,  they  had  only  to  enter  and  strike  them ;  for  these 
men  had  resolved  to  do  everything  for  the  people,  except  to  ac- 
complish their  ruin  and  dishonor.  Lamartine,  in  fine,  refused, 
in  a  few  words  spoken  in  the  name  of  the  government,  to  raise 
the  red  flag,  and  thus  dishonor  the  past  of  the  revolution  and  of 
France. 

XXIII. 

While  Lamartine  was  speaking,  there  was  seen  struggling  on 
the  savage  countenance  of  the  orator  of  the  destitute  classes 
the  intelligence  with  which  it  seemed  to  be  enlightened  in  spite 
of  itself,  and  the  obstinacy  of  a  brutal  will,  with  which  it  ap- 
peared to  be  overcast.  At  last,  intelligence  and  feeling  prevailed. 
He  let  his  carbine  fall  upon  the  ground,  and  burst  into  tears. 
They  surrounded  him,  they  felt  compassion  for  him  ;  his  com- 
rades, yet  more  moved  than  he,  withdrew  him  in  their  arms  out 
of  the  precincts.  They  caused  the  column,  of  which  they  were 
the  head  and  the  voice,  to  flow  back  into  the  court-yards,  signify- 
ing to  the  people,  by  their  cries  and  gestures,  the  good  words 
of  the  government,  and  the  good  resolutions  which  they  them- 
selves had  formed.  A  sensation  of  hesitation  and  repentance 
was  felt  in  the  palace  and  at  the  gates  —  the  government 
breathed. 


XXIV. 

But  no  sooner  did  the  leaders  of  the  people  perceive  the 
moral  shock  communicated  to  the  masses  by  the  return  of  this 
column  upon  the  place  de  Greve,  than  they  sowed  anew  among 
the  crowd  impatience  and  fury  at  their  deceived  designs.    They 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S48. 


209 


called  those  traitors  and  cowards  who  had  descended  without 
having  obtained  the  red  flag,  and  the  government  of  the  desti- 
tute classes,  with  the  tool  for  a  sceptre,  and  the  sword  in  its 
hand.  Uproar,  heavier,  more  rumbling,  and  more  sinister 
than  before,  rose  from  these  waves  of  the  people  to  the  win- 
dows of  the  palace.  Soon  these  compact  masses,  waving  their 
flags,  broke  like  crumbling  walls,  and  new  currents  of  armed 
men  were  seen  forming  and  flowing  slowly,  as  they  plunged 
with  loud  cries  through  all  the  entrances,  and  under  all  the 
gates  of  the  edifice.  The  crushing  alone  prevented  them  from 
throwing  themselves  upon  the  upper  stories,  with  the  force  of 
the  impulse  which  urged  thern  to  the  conquest  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

However,  the  heads  of  these  columns  arrived  at  the  great 
landing  places  of  the  courts,  and  as  far  as  the  middle  of  the 
staircases,  becoming  somewhat  enlightened  and  softened  by  the 
influence  of  good  citizens.  Some  irresistible  groups  penetrated 
even  into  the  ante-chambers  of  the  apartments. 

At  each  moment  news  of  distress  was  brought  by  the  pupils 
of  the  militar)'  schools,  who  braved  ever^'thing.  They  came 
to  beseech  the  men  who  had  the  most  influence  over  the  people 
to  allay  the  last  extremities  of  violence  by  showing  themselves. 
Marie  and  Cremieux  went  out  in  turn,  A^nth  intrepidity ;  the 
ministers,  such  as  Goudchaux,  Bethmont,  Camot,  joined  them, 
and  devoted  citizens  surrounded  them,  to  protect  them  with 
their  persons  and  their  popularity.  They  obtained  some 
moments  of  respect,  and  returned  worn  out  and  vanquished  by 
the  tumult. 

Five  times  Lamartine  went  out,  spoke,  was  heard  with 
applause,  and  caused  the  multitude  to  flow  back  a  little.  He 
waved  before  him  the  tri-colored  banner,  sprung,  said  he,  from 
the  revolution,  the  contemporarj'  of  liberty,  and  consecrated  by 
the  blood  of  our  triumphs.  His  garments  were  torn,  his  head 
uncovered,  his  forehead  streaming  with  sweat.  Enthusiasm 
and  insult,  in  almost  equal  proportions,  were  excited  at  his 
approach.  They  refused  for  a  long  time  to  listen  to  him. 
Vehement  apostrophes  nailed  his  first  words  to  his  lips  ;  then, 
hardly  had  he  pronounced  a  few  sentences,  inspired  by  the 
genius  of  the  place,  the  hour,  and  the  last  extremity  to  which 
the  country  was  reduced,  when  those  nearest  approached  to 
him,  passed  over  to  his  side,  gave  him  their  souls  and  their 
arms,  and  echoing  his  voice  with  their  hearts  and  voices, 
drowned  his  speech  with  plaudits,  which  were  prolonged  by 


210  HISTORY    OF    THE 

passing  from  hall  to  hall,  and  from  distance  to  distance  ;  they 
ended  by  breaking  into  tears,  and  ""hrowing  themselves  into  his 
arms.  Never  was  better  seen  than  during  these  hours  how 
much  intelligence,  electricity,  generosity,  enthusiasm,  and  love, 
is  contained  in  this  people,  who  need  only  a  kind  word  to  pass 
wholly,  even  in  sedition,  to  the  most  sublime  sentiments  of 
humanity. 

XXV. 

But  these  victories  of  sympathy  and  eloquence  were  short ; 
ihey  were  propagated  slowly  and  imperfectly  in  this  noisy  crowd 
of  from  sixty  to  eighty  thousand  men  ;  they  appeared  to  evapo- 
rate with  the  last  echoes  of  the  voice  of  the  orator.  Often  he 
had  hardly  retired  when  he  heard  new  murmurs  sounding  at 
the  foot  of  the  staircases,  and  shots  fired  in  the  courts,  making 
whistle  above  his  head  the  bullets,  which  broke  ofl^  the  stones 
from  the  arches  of  the  staircases. 

Each  hour  of  the  day,  as  it  advanced,  brought  new  reinforce- 
ments from  the  precincts  of  the  city,  and  the  faubourgs,  to  the 
insurgents.  Towards  noon  the  place  de  Greve,  the  windows 
and  roofs  of  the  houses  which  surround  it,  were  choked  with 
the  crowd,  and  appeared  hung  with  red.  A  more  decisive  move- 
ment was  made  at  the  entrances  and  the  lower  parts  of  the 
building.  They  cried.  To  arms  !  Some  intrepid  citizens  wished 
to  oppose  the  more  desperate  invasion  of  the  people  ;  they  were 
thrown  down  upon  the  staircases,  and  trampled  under  foot. 
The  torrent  mounted,  and  flowed  under  the  gothic  arches  which 
stand  before  the  immense  hall  of  the  republic,  strowed  with  the 
bodies  of  the  dying.  "  Lamartine  !  Lamartine  ! "  cried  the 
citizens  from  the  end  of  the  corridors,  where  they  were  crowded 
back  by  the  people ;  "  he  alone  can  attempt  to  stay  the  deluge, 
—  the  people  will  listen  only  to  him  ;  —  let  him  appear,  or  all  is 
lost ! " 

Lamartine,  overwhelmed  by  eighteen  hours  of  physical  efforts, 
and  stretched  on  the  floor,  arose  at  these  cries,  and  went  out, 
accompanied  by  Payer,  Jumelle,  and  Marechal,  young  and 
intrepid  pupils  of  Saint  Cyr,  and  by  a  group  of  generous  youths 
of  the  Polytechnic  School,  and  a  few  citizens,  who  protected 
him  with  their  bodies.  He  passed  through  the  corridors  ;  he 
advanced  as  far  as  the  landing  of  the  staircase ;  he  descended 
the  steps,  bristling  on  both  sides  with  swords,  lances,  daggers, 
musket-barrels  and  pistols,  brar  dished  over  his  head  by  excited 


REVOLUTION    OP     1848.  211 

and  sometimes  intoxicated  hands ;  borne,  and,  as  it  were, 
swimming  over  the  very  waves  of  sedition,  he  thus  came  upon 
the  steps  which  open  upon  the  square.  He  showed  himself ; 
he  spoke  :  his  form,  which  the  people  beheld  with  curiosity,  his 
gestures,  his  frank  and  open  countenance,  even  more  than  his 
words,  which  were  often  drowTied  in  the  tumult,  roused  prolonged 
acclamations  from  the  multitude.  Some  red  flags  were  low- 
ered—  some  tri-colored  banners  appeared  at  the  windows. 

He  remounted  the  staircase,  followed  by  the  echo  of  this 
applause  from  the  square,  which  seemed  to  protect  him,  and,  so 
to  speak,  consecrate  him,  against  the  bullets  and  daggers  of  the 
groups  within.  "  Traitor !  "  cried  some  men,  with  sinister  looks 
and  clothed  in  rags,  upon  the  last  step. 

Lamartine  stopped,  opened  his  dress,  pointing  in  gesture  to 
his  breast,  looked  the  insurgents  in  the  face  with  a  smile  of 
compassion.  "  Are  we  traitors  ?  "  said  he  ;  "  strike,  if  you  believe 
it !  But  you  who  say  it  do  not  believe  it ;  for  before  betraying 
you  we  must  betray  ourselves.  Who  is  it  that  here  risks  the 
most,  you  or  we  ?  We  have  pledged  you  our  names,  our 
memory,  and  our  lives,  and  you  only  stake  the  mud  upon  your 
shoes ;  for  it  is  not  your  name  that  has  countersigned  the 
republic ;  and  if  the  republic  falls,  it  is  not  upon  you  that  the 
vengeance  of  its  enemies  will  fall ! "  These  words,  and  this 
gesture,  struck  the  feelings  and  the  reason  of  thg  people  ;  they 
opened  for  him  to  pass,  and  gave  him  applause. 

Reentering  the  hall  of  the  wounded,  Lamartine  met  a  woman, 
still  young,  and  all  in  tears,  who  came  to  him  and  called  him 
the  saviour  of  all.  Her  husband,  stretched  upon  a  mattress  in 
a  corner  of  the  hall,  appeared  to  be  dying  from  weariness  and 
disease.  It  was  Flocon,  brought  back  dying  from  Vincennes, 
some  hours  before,  after  having  quieted  the  faubourg  Saint 
Antoine,  and  saved  our  arsenals.  Lamartine  pressed  his  hand, 
and  thanked  him  for  his  devotion  and  his  courage.  This  friend- 
ship, between  the  republican  of  a  whole  life  and  the  republican 
of  a  day,  was  formed,  so  to  speak,  upon  the  battle-field. 

XXVL 

But  these  triumphs  of  good  citizens  were  only  momentary 
truces.  Despair  at  their  weakness,  the  vain  expectation  of  a 
result  which  always  deceived  them,  the  shame  of  retiring  with- 
out having  obtained  anything — hunger,  thirst,  cold,  the  icy 
water  and  the  mud  in  which  they  had  been  standing  since  the 


212  HISTORY   OF    THE 

morning,  raised,  every  quarter  of  an  hour,  new  waves  over  these 
seas  of  men.  The  chiefs  had  seen  the  sun  rise,  and  the  day 
pass  away ;  they  did  not  wish  that  it  should  go  down  upon  their 
defeat.  A  furious  horde  of  about  four  or  five  thousand  men, 
appearing  to  have  come  from  the  most  remote  and  indigent 
faubourgs  of  Paris,  mingled  with  some  groups  better  clothed 
and  better  armed,  broke  through,  at  about  two  o'clock,  the 
balustrades  of  aU  the  courts  of  the  hotel,  inundated  the  halls, 
and  rushed,  with  cries  of  death,  clash  of  arms,  and  shots  fired 
at  random,  as  far  as  a  kind  of  elevated  portico,  in  the  middle 
of  a  narrow  staircase,  upon  which  terminate  the  passages  which 
protected  on  this  side  the  asylum  of  the  government. 

Lagrange,  with  dishevelled  hair,  and  tAvo  pistols  at  his  girdle, 
with  excited  gestures,  subduing  the  crowd  by  his  lofty  figure, 
and  the  tumult  by  his  voice,  that  resembled  the  roaring  of  the 
masses,  was  striving  in  vain,  in  the  midst  of  his  friends  of  the 
evening  and  those  who  had  gone  beyond  him  in  the  morning, 
at  once  to  satisfy  and  restrain  the  zeal  of  this  crowd,  intoxi- 
cated with  enthusiasm,  victory,  impatience,  suspicion,  tumult, 
and  wine.  The  almost  inarticulate  voice  of  Lagrange  as  much 
excited  frenzy  by  its  tone  as  it  desired  to  appease  it  by  its  mean- 
ing. Tossed  about,  like  the  mast  of  a  vessel,  from  group  to 
group,  he  was  borne  from  the  staircase  to  the  passage,  from  the 
door  to  the  windows.  With  extended  arms  and  salutations  of  the 
head,  he  cried  from  above  to  the  multitude  in  the  courts,  with 
supplicating  speeches,  which  were  carried  away  by  the  winds, 
or  drowned  by  the  howling  in  tl^e  lower  stories,  and  the  noise 
of  the  firing.  A  weak  door,  which  could  hardly  allow  two  men 
to  pass  abreast,  served  as  a  dike  against  the  crowd,  arrested  by 
their  ovm  weight.  Lamartine,  raised  on  the  arms  and  shoulders 
of  some  good  citizens,  rushed  to  it.  He  broke  it  open,  preceded 
only  by  his  name,  and  found  himself  again  alone,  struggling 
with  the  most  tumultuous  and  foaming  waves  of  the  sedition. 

In  vain  the  men  nearest  to  him  cried  out  his  name  to  the 
multitude  —  in  vain  they  raised  him  at  times  upon  their  en- 
twined arms,  to  show  his  form  to  the  people,  and  to  obtain 
silence,  if  it  were  only  from  curiosity.  The  fluctuation  of  this 
crowd,  the  cries,  the  shocks,  the  resounding  of  the  strokes  of 
muskets  against  the  walls,  the  voice  of  Lagrange,  interrupting 
with  hoarse  sertences  the  brief  silence  of  the  multitude,  ren- 
dered all  attitude  and  speech  impossible.  Engulfed,  stifled,  and 
crowded  back  against  the  door,  which  was  closed  behind  him, 
it  only  remained  for  Lamartine  to  allow  the  deaf  and  blind 


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'     RARY 
-  THE 
UNIVERSL  /  OF  IUI^OIS 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  213 

irruption  to  pass  over  his  body,  with  the  red  flag,  which  the 
insurgents  raised  above  their  heads,  as  a  standard,  victorious 
over  the  vanquished  government. 

At  last  some  devoted  men  succeeded  in  bringing  to  him  a 
broken  straw-covered  chair,  upon  which  he  mounted,  as  it  were 
upon  a  tottering  tribune,  which  was  supported  by  the  hands 
of  his  friends.  From  his  appearance,  from  the  cahnness  of  his 
figure,  which  he  strove  to  render  so  much  the  more  impass- 
ible as  he  had  the  more  passions  to  restrain,  from  his  patient 
gestures,  from  the  cries  of  the  good  citizens  imploring  silence 
that  he  might  be  heard,  the  crowd,  with  whom  a  new  spectacle 
always  commands  attention,  began  to  group  themselves  into  an 
audience,  and  to  quiet  by  degrees  their  noise. 

Lamartine  began  many  times  to  speak,  but  at  each  fortunate 
attempt  to  subdue  this  tumult  by  his  look,  his  arm  and  his 
voice,  the  voice  of  Lagrange  haranguing  on  his  side  another 
portion  of  the  people  from  the  windows,  raised  again  in  the 
hall  the  guttural  cries,  fragments  of  discourse,  and  roaring  of 
the  crowd,  which  drowned  the  words  and  action  of  Lamartine, 
and  caused  the  sedition  to  triumph  by  confusion.  They  finally 
calmed  Lagmnge,  and  drew  him  from  his  tribune.  He  went  to 
carry  persuasion  to  other  parts  of  the  edifice  ;  and  Lamartine, 
whose  resolution  increased  with  the  danger,  could  finally  make 
himself  heard  by  his  friends  and  his  enemies. 

XXVIL 

He  first  calmed  this  people  by  an  eloquent  hymn  upon  the 
victory  so  sudden,  so  complete,  so  unhoped  for  even  by  re- 
publicans the  most  desirous  of  liberty.  He  called  God  and  men 
to  witness  the  admirable  moderation  and  religious  humanity 
which  the  mass  of  this  people  had  shown,  even  in  combat  and 
in  triumph.  He  roused  again  that  sublime  instinct  which  had, 
during  the  evening,  thrown  this  people,  still  armed,  but  already 
obedient  and  discipUned,  into  the  arms  of  a  few  men  devoted 
to  calumny,  to  weariness  and  death,  for  the  safety  of  all. 

At  these  pictures  the  crowd  began  to  admire  themselves, 
and  to  shed  tears  over  the  virtues  of  the  people.  Enthusiasm 
soon  raised  them  above  their  suspicions,  their  vengeance,  and 
their  anarchy. 

"  Citizens,  see  what  the  sun  of  yesterday  beheld ! "  con- 
tinued Lamartine.  "  And  what  will  the  sun  of  to-day  witness  ? 
It  will  see  another  people,  so  mu  h  the  more  furious  as  it 
19 


214  HISTORY   OF   THE 

has  fewer  enemies  to  combat,  defying  the  very  men  whom 
yesterday  they  had  raised  above  them ;  constraining  them  in 
their  liberty,  humbling  them  in  their  dignity,  despising  them 
in  their  authority,  which  is  only  your  own  ;  substituting  a  rev- 
olution of  vengeance  and  punishment  for  one  of  unanimity 
and  fraternity,  and  commanding  their  government  to  raise,  in 
token  of  concord,  the  standard  of  deadly  combat  between  citi- 
zens of  a  common  country!  —  that  red  banner,  which  they 
have  sometimes  been  able  to  raise  when  blood  was  flowing, 
as  a  terror  to  their  enemies,  but  which  they  ought  to 
lower  immediately  after  the  combat,  in  si^n  of  reconciliation 
and  peace !  I  should  prefer  the  black  flag,  which  some- 
times, in  a  besieged  city,  floats  like  a  winding-sheet,  to  desig- 
nate to  the  bomb  the  neutral  edifices  consecrated  to  humanity, 
and  which  even  the  bullet  and  the  shell  of  the  enemy  must 
spare.  Do  you  wish,  then,  that  the  banner  of  your  republic 
should  be  more  menacing  and  sinister  than  that  of  a  bombarded 
town  ?  " 

"  No,  no  !  "  cried  some  of  the  spectators  ;  "  Lamartine  is 
right ;  let  us  not  preserve  this  flag  of  terror  for  the  citizens  !  " — 
"  Yes,  yes  !  "  cried  others ;  "it  is  ours,  it  is  that  of  the  people. 
It  is  that  with  which  we  have  conquered.  Why,  then,  should 
we  not  preserve,  after  the  victory,  the  standard  which  we  have 
stained  with  our  blood  ?  " 

"  Citizens,"  resumed  Lamartine,  after  having  opposed  the 
change  of  the  banner  by  all  the  reasons  most  striking  to  the 
imagination  of  the  people,  and,  as  it  were,  withdrawing  upon 
his  personal  conscience  for  his  last  argument,  thus  intimidating 
the  people,  who  loved  him,  by  the  menace  of  his  retreat : 
"  Citizens,  you  can  offer  violence  to  the  government ;  you  can 
command  it  to  change  the  flag  of  the  nation,  and  the  name  of 
France,  if  you  are  so  badly  counselled,  and  so  obstinate  in  your 
error,  as  to  force  upon  it  the  republic  of  a  party,  and  the 
standard  of  terror.  The  government,  I  know,  is  as  decided  as 
myself,  to  die  rather  than  to  dishonor  itself  by  obeying  you. 
As  for  me,  never  shall  my  hand  sign  this  decree  !  I  will  re- 
fuse, even  to  the  death,  this  flag  of  blood  ;  and  you  should 
repudiate  it  still  more  than  I !  for  the  red  flag  which  you  offer 
us  has  only  made  the  tour  of  the  Champ  de  Mars,  drawn 
through  the  blood  of  the  people  in  '91  and  in  '93  ;  while  the  tri- 
colored  banner  has  made  the  circuit  of  the  world,  with  the 
name,  the  glory,  and  the  liberty  of  the  country  !  " 

At  these  last  words,  Lamartine,  interrupted  by  almost  unan 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  215 

imous  cri^s  of  enthusiasm,  fell  from  the  chair  which  served 
him  as  a  tribune  into  the  arms  stretched  towards  him  from  all 
sides !  Tlie  cause  of  the  new  republic  triumphed  over  the 
bloody  reminiscences  ■9'hich  would  have  been  substituted  for  it. 
A  general  impulse,  seconded  by  the  gestures  of  Lamartine  and 
the  influence  of  good  citizens,  caused  the  rioters,  who  filled  the 
hall,  to  fall  back  as  far  as  the  landing-place  of  the  great  stair- 
case, with  cries  of  "Fi«e  Lamartine !  vive  le  drapeau  tricolore  ' " 

xxvm. 

But  this  crowd,  carried  away  by  the  words  it  had  just  heard, 
there  met  the  head  of  a  new  column,  which  had  not  been 
able  to  penetrate  into  the  interior,  noi'  share  in  the  feeling  of 
the  speeches.  This  band  ascended,  more  animated  and  more 
implacable  than  any  of  the  rioters  hitherto  restrained  or  dis- 
persed. A  shock  had  taken  place  under  the  porch,  and  upon 
the  last  steps  of  the  stairs,  between  these  two  crowds,  each  of 
whom  wished  to  draw  the  other  into  its  own  movement,  the 
one  for  the  red  flag,  the  other  for  the  flag  regained  by  the 
words  of  Lamartine.  Menacing  conversations,  ardent  vocifer- 
ations, cries  of  suffocation,  two  or  three  shots,  fired  from  the 
foot  of  the  staircase,  shreds  of  the  red  flag,  and  naked  weap- 
ons brandished  over  their  heads,  made  this  close  conflict  one 
of  the  most  sinister  scenes  of  the  revolution. 

Lamartine  threw  himself  between  the  parties ! 

"  It  is  Lamartine  !  room  for  Lamartine  !  hear  Lamartine  !  " 
cried  the  citizens  who  had  once  heard  him.  "  No,  no,  no ! 
down  with  Lamartine !  death  to  Lamartine  !  No  bargain- 
ing! no  words  !  the  decree  !  the  decree  !  or  d  la  Ia)iter7ie  with. 
the  government  of  traitors  !  "  shrieked  the  crowd. 

These  words  did  not  make  Lamartine  hesitate,  recoil,  or 
grow  pale.^ 

They  succeeded  in  bringing  to  the  landing  behind  him  the 
broken  chair  upon  which  he  had  mounted  just  before.  He 
ascended  it,  supported  by  the  jamb  of  the  great  gothic  gate, 
which  had  been  pierced,  during  the  evening  and  morning, 
with  bullets.  At  his  appearance,  the  fury  of  the  assailants, 
instead  of  being  calmed,  broke  forth  in  imprecations,  clamors, 
and  menacing:  crestures.  Musket-barrels,  levelled  from  a  dis- 
tance  upon  the  steps  furthest  removed  from  him,  seemed  to 

*  See  the  Hiiiory  of  these  days,  by  a  society  ol  combatants,  Captain  Du- 
noyer. 


216  HISTORY    OF    THE 

aim  al  the  gate.  A  nearer  group  of  about  twenty  men,  besotted 
by  intoxication,  brandished  bayonets  and  drawn  swords  before 
them  ;  and,  almost  touching  his  feet,  eight  or  ten  furious  men, 
sword  in  hand,  threw  themselves  headlong,  as  if  to  force  a 
passage  by  blows  of  a  battering-ram  through  the  feeble  group 
that  surrounded  Lamartine.  Among  the  first,  two  or  three 
appeared  out  of  their  senses.  Their  hands,  stained  with 
wine,  threw  about  blindly  their  naked  weapons,  which  the 
courageous  citizens  embraced  and  took  away  in  bundles,  as 
the  mowers  raise  the  sheaves.  The  brandished  points  of  the 
swords  reached  every  moment  to  the  height  of  the  person  of 
the  orator,  whose  hand  was  slightly  wounded.  The  moment 
was  critical,  —  the  triumph  undecided.  Chance  decided  it. 
Lamartine  could  not  be  heard,  and  was  unwilling  to  descend. 
Hesitation  would  have  lost  all.  The  good  citizens  were  in 
consternation.  Lamartine  expected  to  be  overthrown  and 
trampled  under  the  feet  of  the  multitude. 

XXIX. 

At  this  moment,  a  man  stepped  forth  from  a  group  upon  the 
right.  He  entered  the  crowd.  He  climbed  upon  the  foot  of 
a  pillar  of  the  gate,  nearly  as  high  as  Lamartine,  and  in 
sight  of  the  people.  It  was  a  man  of  colossal  form,  and  en- 
dowed with  a  voice  strong  as  the  roaring  of  a  tumult.  His 
costume  alone  would  have  attracted  the  regard  of  the  multi- 
tude. He  wore  a  surtout  of  unbleached  linen,  worn,  soiled 
and  torn,  like  the  rags  of  a  beggar's  dress.  Large  trousers, 
floating  to  his  knee,  left  his  feet  bare,  without  stockings.  His 
long  and  large  hands  hung  out,  with  half  his  meagre  arms, 
from  his  two  short  sleeves.  His  open  shirt  allowed  one  to 
count  his  ribs  and  the  muscles  of  his  breast. 

His  eyes  were  blue,  luminous,  and  swimming  in  tenderness 
and  goodness.  His  open  countenance  breathed  enthusiasm, 
carried  even  to  dehrium  and  tears  ;  but  it  was  the  enthusiasm 
of  hope  and  love,  —  a  true  type  of  the  people  in  their  moments 
of  grandeur,  at  once  wretched,  terrible,  and  good. 

One  of  the  balis  fired  from  below  had  just  grazed  the  upper 
part  of  his  nose,  near  his  eyes.  His  blood,  which  he  wiped 
away  constantly,  flowed  in  two  streams  over  his  cheeks  and 
lips.  He  did  not  seem  to  think  of  his  wound.  He  stretched 
his  arms  out  to  Lamartine,  and  invoked  him,  by  look  and  ges- 
ture.    He  called  him  the  counsellor,  the  light,  the  father,  the 


EEVOLUTION   OF    1843.  217 

god  of  the  people.  "Let  me  see  him  —  touch  him!  let  me  only 
kiss  his  hands!"  cried  he.  "Listen  to  him,"  added  he, turning 
to  his  comrades;  "follow  his  counsels;  fall  into  his  arms. 
Strike  me  before  you  injure  him.  I  will  die  a  thousand  times 
to  preserv^e  this  good  citizen  to  my  country." 

At  these  words,  rushing  to  Lamartine,  the  man  embraced 
him  convulsively,  covered  him  with  his  blood,  and  held  him  a 
long  time  in  his  arms.  Lamartine  ofTered  him  his  hand  and 
cheek,  and  was  melted  by  this  magnanimous  personification 
of  the  multitude. 


XXX. 

At  this  spectacle,  the  astonished  and  affected  multitude  were 
themselves  melted.  The  love  of  a  man  of  the  people,  a 
wounded  man,  a  proletary  bathed  in  blood,  displaying,  in  his 
naked  limbs,  all  the  stains,  rags,  and  \vretchedness  of  indi- 
gence, proved  to  Lamartine,  and  was  in  the  eyes  of  the  crowd, 
a  visible  and  undeniable  pledge  of  the  confidence  they  might 
repose  in  the  designs  of  this  unknown  moderator,  of  the  faith 
they  ought  to  have  in  the  words  of  the  organ  of  the  govern- 
ment. Lamartine,  perceiving  this  impression,  and  hesitation 
in  the  looks  and  movements  of  the  multitude,  took  advantage 
of  it  to  aim  a  final  stroke  at  the  fickle  heart  of  this  people.  A 
prolonged  tumult  rolled  at  his  feet  among  those  who  wished  to 
hear  him  and  those  who  were  bent  on  hearing  nothing,  still  in 
the  presence  of  the  mendicant,  who  with  one  hand  stanched 
the  blood  of  the  wound  in  the  face,  and  with  the  other  made 
signs,  to  impose  silence  on  the  people. 

"  What !  citizens,"  said  he,  "  if  you  had  been  told  that  in 
three  days  you  would  have  overthrown  the  throne,  destroyed 
the  oligarchy,  obtained  universal  suffrage  in  the  name  of  man, 
conquered  all  the  rights  of  citizenship,  and  finally  founded  the 
republic,  —  that  republic,  the  distant  dream  of  those  who  felt 
its  name  hidden  in  the  innermost  recesses  of  their  conscience, 
like  a  crime  !  And  what  a  republic  !  Not  a  republic  like  that 
of  Greece  or  Rome,  embracing  aristocrats  and  plebeians,  mas- 
ters and  slaves  !  —  not  a  republic  like  the  aristocratic  republics 
of  modern  da's,  enc.osing  citizens  and  proletaries,  the  great 
and  small  in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  a  people  and  a  patrician 
order,  —  but  a  republic  of  equality,  in  which  there  is  neithei 
aristocracy  nor  oligarchy,  neither  great  nor  little,  neither  pa 
tricians  nor  plebeians,  neither  masters  nor  helots,  before  the 
19=* 


218  HISTORY   OF    THE 

law ;  where  there  is  but  one  single  people,  coroposed  of  the 
totality  of  the  citizens,  and  the  public  right  and  power  are  only 
formed  by  the  right  and  vote  of  each  individual  of  whom  the 
nation  is  formed,  united  in  one  collective  power,  called  the 
government  of  the  republic,  and  returning  in  laws,  popular 
institutions  and  benefits,  to  the  people  from  which  it  emanated. 

"  If  you  had  been  told  all  of  this  three  days  ago,  you  would 
have  refused  it  credence.  Three  days  !  you  would  have  said.  It 
would  require  three  centuries  to  accomplish  such  a  work  for 
the  benefit  of  humanity."     [Applause.) 

"Well!  what  you  have  declared  impossible  is  accomplished. 
Behold  our  work,  in  the  midst  of  these  arms,  these  corpses  of 
our  martyrs  ;  —  and  you  murmur  against  God  and  us  !  " 

"  No,  no!"  cried  many  voices. 

"  Ah  !  "  resumed  Lamartine,  "  you  would  be  unworthy  of 
these  efforts,  if  you  did  not  know  how  to  contemplate  and  to 
acknowledge  them. 

"  What  do  we  ask  of  you,  to  complete  our  work  ?  Years  ? 
No.  Months  ?  No,  Weeks  ?  No  :  days,  only.  In  two  or 
three  days  more,  your  victory  will  be  recorded,  accepted,  as- 
sured and  organized,  in  such  a  manner  that  no  tyranny,  except 
the  tyranny  of  your  own  impatience,  can  tear  it  from  your 
grasp.  And  would  you  deny  us  these  days,  these  hours,  this 
calm,  these  minutes  ?  And  would  you  strangle  the  republic, 
born  of  your  blood,  in  its  cradle  ?  " 

"  No,  no  !  "  cried  a  hundred  voices,  anew.  "  Confidence  ! 
confidence  !  Let  us  go  and  encourage  and  enlighten  our 
brethren.  Long  live  the  provisional  government.  Vive  la 
Republique !     Vive  Lamartine!  " 

"  Citizens,"  he  continued,  "  I  have  just  spoken  to  you  as  a 
citizen  ;  now  hear  me  as  your  minister  of  foreign  affairs.  If 
you  take  from  me  the  tri-colored  flag,  mark  it  well,  you  take 
from  me  half  the  external  strength  of  France ;  for  Europe 
knows  only  the  standard  of  its  defeats  and  our  victories.  It 
is  the  flag  of  the  republic  and  the  empire.  On  beholding  the 
red  flag,  they  will  imagine  they  see  only  the  banner  of  a  party. 
It  is  the  flag  of  France,  the  flag  of  our  victorious  armies,  the 
flag  of  our  triumphs,  which  we  must  hoist  in  the  eyes  of 
Europe.  France  and  the  tri-colored  flag  —  it  is  the  same 
idea,  the  same  halo,  the  same  terror,  if  need  be,  to  our  ene- 
mies. 

"  Oh,  peop!  e,  suffering  and  patient  in  misery  ! "  resumed  he, 
"who  have  just  shown,  by  the  action  of  this  brave  and  poor 


REVOLUTION    OF    184S. 


219 


man,  (embracing  the  mendicant  with  his  right  arm,)  what  dis- 
interestedness there  is  in  your  own  wounds,  and  magnanimity 
and  reason  in  your  soul !  Yes,  let  us  embrace  and  love  each 
jther ;  let  us  fraternize,  rank  with  rank,  class  with  class,  opu- 
ence  with  indigence.  Ungrateful  would  be  the  government 
/^ou  establish  if  it  forgot  that  it  owes  its  first  care  to  the  most 
iinfortunate.  As  for  me,  I  shall  never  forget  it.  I  love  order. 
[  devote  my  life,  as  you  see,  to  it.  I  execrate  anarchy,  because 
it  is  the  dismemberment  of  civilized  society.  I  abhor  dema- 
gogueism,  because  it  is  a  disgrace  to  the  people,  and  a  scandal 
to  liberty.  But,  although  born  in  a  more  favored  and  happier 
sphere  than  you,  my  friends  —  what  do  I  say  ?  —  perhaps  simply 
because  I  was  born  there,  because  I  have  worked  less,  suffered 
leis,  than  you ;  because  I  have  had  more  leisure  and  reflection 
to  contemplate  your  distresses,  and  compassionate  them  from  a 
distance,  I  have  always  desired  a  more  fraternal  government, 
with  laws  more  deeply  imbued  with  the  charity  which  now 
binds  us  together  in  these  interviews,  these  tears,  these  embraces 
of  love,  of  which  you  have  given  me  such  examples,  and  with 
which  I  feel  myself  overwhelmed." 


XXXI. 

At  the  moment  when  Lamartine  was  about  to  continue,  and 
unfolded  his  arms  to  appeal  to  the  masses,  he  suddenly  stopped, 
his  words  suspended  on  his  lips,  his  action  petrified,  his  look 
fixed,  and  as  it  were  riveted  on  an  object  invisible  to  the  rest 
of  the  multitude. 

In  fact,  he  had  for  some  moments  noticed  confusedly,  through 
the  kind  of  mist  which  improvisation  throws  over  the  eyes  of 
the  orator,  a  fantastic  figure  advancing  towards  him,  which  he 
could  not  explain,  and  which  he  took  to  be  an  optical  delusion 
or  a  vestige  of  the  imagination. 

It  was  the  bust  of  a  young  man,  clad  in  blue,  a  little  elevated 
above  the  crowd,  and  approaching  without  walking,  like  those 
phantoms  which  glide  over  the  ground  without  moving  on  their 
feet.  The  nearer  the  figure  approached,  the  more  astonish- 
ment did  the  looks  of  Lamartine  express,  and  the  more  did  his 
words  seem  to  halt  upon  his  lips.  At  last  he  recognized  in  this 
bust  the  countenance  of  Louis  Blanc.  The  face  had  color,  but 
the  open  eyes  were  motionless  as  in  a  transitory  fainting-fit. 
It  was,  in  fact,  Louis  Blanc,  who  had  fainted  from  exhaustion 
and  heat  in  the  lower  story  and  was  carried  by  some  of  his 


230 


HISTORY    OF   THE 


friends  silently  and  slowly  through  the  mass  of  attentive  people. 
At  the  same  moment  the  wounded  man  who  had  embraced  and 
saved  Lamartine  fell  exhausted,  and  overturned  the  chair  in 
his  fall.  Lamartine  was  sustained  by  the  hands  of  some  men 
of  the  people.  Louis  Blanc  recovered  in  the  air  at  the  win- 
dows. This  interrupted  the  discourse,  but  did  not  destroy  its 
effect. 

XXXIL 

Notwithstanding  this  diversion,  the  people,  feeling  the  re- 
proaches respecting  their  impatience,  and  elevated  as  if  for 
the  first  time  by  the  fanaticism  of  their  own  glory,  repudiated 
by  them  in  their  flags,  were  particularly  impressed  by  that 
species  of  confidence  which  a  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  openly 
sustaining  the  interests  of  the  country  adored  by  the  people, 
reposed  in  them.  They  turned  back,  as  it  were,  against  them- 
selves. They  rushed  forward,  putting  aside  the  guns  and 
pressing  down  the  sabres  of  those  who  were  nearest,  to  embrace 
the  knees  and  touch  the  hands  of  the  orator.  Tears  glistened 
in  all  eyes.  The  mendicant  himself  shed  them,  and  they 
mingled  with  his  noble  blood  upon  his  cheek. 

This  man  had  done  more  towards  saving  the  tri-colored  flag 
and  the  republic  of  '93  than  the  voice  of  Lamartine  or  the 
firmness  of  government.  After  his  triumph  he  was  lost  in  the. 
crowd  who  descended  to  the  square  for  the  last  time.  Lamar- 
tine did  not  even  know  his  name,  and  never  saw  him  afterwards. 
He  owes  him  his  life,  and  France  her  flag. 


xxxm. 

Meanwhile,  many  good  citizens  had  learned  from  public  re- 
port the  tumults  to  which  the  government  had  been  exposed  for 
eighteen  hours.  It  was  rumored  that  the  red  flag  had  been 
planted ;  that  the  government  had  been  overthrown,  and  were 
prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  terrorists ;  that  Lamartine  had 
been  wounded  by  a  shot,  and  seen  from  a  window  with  his 
face  and  hands  bathed  in  blood !  They  knew  not  that  it  was 
the  blood  of  the  generous  mendicant.  Consternation  reigned 
in  the  distant  quarters,  and  confusion  in  the  nearest. 

But  the  most  courageous  came  voluntarily,  without  any  other 
summons  than  their  own  patriotism.  They  mingled  with  the 
masses  who  occupied  the  place  de  Greve.  Here,  by  their  posi- 
tion and  v\  nds,  they  opposed  the  factions  step  by  step.     They 


REVOIUTION   OF    1848. 


221 


addressed  severe  or  fraternal  reproaches  to  those  most  obstinate 
in  preserving  the  flag  of  terror.  It  was  at  this  moment  that 
cries  of  ''Vive  la  Rtpubligue .' "  bursting  from  the  stairways,  win- 
dows and  courts,  and  the  ebb  of  the  last  irruption,  pouring  forth 
from  the  great  door  with  the  tri-colored  flag  displayed,  gave 
courage  to  the  defenders  of  purity  of  the  republic,  and  threw 
fluctuation  and  disorder  into  the  disjointed  ranks  of  sedition. 

The  entire  square  gave  way  in  a  confused  movement  of  re- 
treat, with  cries  of  ''Vive  la  Republiqite  !  "  "  Long  live  the  Pro- 
visional Government ! "  "  Vive  Lamartine ! "  mingled  with  some 
stifled  murmurs  of  anger  and  disappointment.  Disordered 
bands  were  seen  to  retire,  trailing  the  red  flag  through  all  tlie 
openings  of  the  streets  which  terminate  at  the  Bastille,  or  which 
lead  by  the  quays  to  the  faubourg  Saint  Marceau  and  to  Bercy. 
A  chant,  by  a  hundred  voices,  rose  like  a  hymn  to  the  tri-colored 
flag  from  the  bosom  of  the  people  who  remained  upon  the 
square.  It  was  the  Marseillaise.  The  square  itself  was  soon 
almost  entirely  empty.  There  remained  near  the  gates  only 
two  or  three  hundred  National  Guards,  and  a  few  brave  citi- 
zens hiding  their  arms  under  their  coats,  ready  to  devote  them- 
selves to  the  cause  of  the  government  and  the  nation. 


XXXIV. 

Still  all  was  not  over.  The  red  bands,  on  retiring,  had  uttered 
threats,  and  had  made  gestures  with  their  weapons,  which  an- 
nounced a  return  of  sedition  in  full  force  on  the  next  day. 

While  Lamartine  was  thus  strucfg-linof  face  to  face  with  the 
people  on  the  outside,  his  colleagues,  from  whom  he  had  been 
separated  by  the  crowd,  sustained,  with  equal  resolution,  the 
summons  and  assaults  of  the  partisans  of  violent  measures, 
and  confounded  them  by  the  energy  of  their  resistance,  and 
their  prompt  reorganization  of  everything. 

Gamier  Pages,  the  mayor  of  Paris,  reestablished  order  and 
subordination  in  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  revoked,  confirmed,  nomi- 
nated, and  recalled  the  mayors  of  the  difl!erent  quarters  of  Paris. 
Ledru  RoUin  reinstalled  the  vast  ministry  of  the  interior  which 
had  devolved  upon  him ;  he  came  to  an  understanding  with 
Caussidiere,  for  reestablishing  a  summary  police,  so  necessary 
to  a  capital  without  government,  and  filled  with  the  elements 
of  disorder  and  crimes.  Subervie  resumed  the  vigor  and  fire 
of  his  republican  youth,  to  prevent  the  disbanding  of  our  brave 
army.     It  had  left  Paris  for  a  moment,  but  its  dislocation  and 


222  HISTORY    OF    THE 

want  of  disci|  line  would  have  disarmed  the  country  while  the 
revolution  was  in  agitation.  Up  night  and  day,  ir.  uniform, 
on  horseback,  or  at  the  council,  this  old  man  made  the  soldiers 
forget  his  years,  as  he  did  himself.  Full  of  reminiscences  of 
the  former  republic,  which  he  had  never  lost  sight  of,  Subervie 
found  no  impossibility  in  reviving  the  great  days  of  our  armed 
patriotism  whose  enthusiasm  he  had  preserved. 

A  pretext  was  made  of  his  years  to  remove  him,  a  few 
weeks  later,  from  the  ministry.  It  was  a  mistake.  The  date 
of  his  birth  only  was  looked  at.  His  ardor,  his  activity,  and 
his  old-fashioned  firmness,  were  not  regarded.  Subervie  was 
worthy  of  continuing  Carnot. 

Arago  concentrated  his  thoughts  on  the  preservation  of  the 
learned  arm  which  had  been  confided  to  him,  —  the  navy.  He 
struggled  inflexibly  against  all  disorganization  of  the  mechan- 
ism of  government.  Goudchaux,  summoned  at  the  outset  to 
t'ae  department  of  finance,  sacrificed  to  patriotism  his  repug- 
nance and  his  interest,  and  shielded  credit  by  his  probity  and 
science.  Cremieux,  Marie,  Carnot,  Bethmont,  like  Lamartine, 
neglected  for  some  days  their  less  important  ministries,  to  face 
the  o-eneral  exigences  and  the  incessant  seditions  in  the  heart 
of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  the  head-quarters  of  the  revolution. 
Marrast,  as  indefatigable  as  he  was  firm,  did  not  leave  the 
council-table  night  or  day.  He  prepared  the  preambles  with 
rapid  and  luminous  precision,  while  Cremieux  and  Marie 
drew  up  the  decrees,  and  Lamartine  the  proclamations  to  the 
people,  the  army,  and  Europe. 

XXXV. 

On  entering  the  interior,  from  that  time  evacuated  by  sedi- 
tion, Lamartine  found  his  colleagues  busy  with  these  important 
details.  They  took  breath,  and  cast  a  look  of  security  and 
hope  through  the  windows  on  the  empty  square  before  the 
Hotel  de  Ville. 

It  was  four  hours  after  midnight.  A  ray  of  the  sun,  piercing 
the  February  clouds,  was  reflected  on  the  moist  pavements,  and 
in  the  pools  of  water  still  mixed  with  blood  that  stood  about  the 
dead  carcasses  of  horses  the  scavengers  were  clearing  out  of  the 
streets.  The  tri -colored  flag  had  resumed  its  place  over  the 
statue  of  Henry  ^V.,  and  was  floating  from  all  the  windows  of 
the  houses.  E^erythmg  breathed  the  still  doubtful  serenity 
which  succeed;  popular  tumults,  and  which  can  hardly  be 


lii0^ilWStali*if\  ifi^rHmii^rwtmsaim.^  ru^tiMi<aji*immM't 


REVOLUTION    OF    1348. 


22S 


trusted  even  while  experienced.  But  the  people  had  shown 
themselves  too  susceptible  and  sublime  to  prevent  the  triumph 
of  hope  over  anxiety  in  the  hearts  of  the  members  of  the  gov- 
ernment. Dupont  de  I'Eure  and  Arago  had  returned  in  the 
afternoon,  on  hearing  a  rumor  of  the  perils  which  threatened 
their  associates.  They  met  in  a  little  room  left  free  by  the 
evacuation  of  a  part  of  the  edifice,  and  held  secret  council  with 
the  members  of  government  present. 

The  silence  which  had  succeeded  noise,  the  security  follow- 
ing agitation,  the  hour,  the  sunbeam,  the  feeling  which  expands 
the  heart,  the  hope  which  smooths  all  obstacles,  admiration  for 
a  people  capable  of  restraining  and  disanning  themselves  at 
the  voice  of  a  few  unknown  citizens,  all  was  of  a  nature  to 
inspire  the  soul  with  these  great  thoughts  which  spring  from 
the  heart,  and  are  sovereign  policy  because  they  are  sovereign 
nature  and  sovereign  truth.  Instinct  is  the  supreme  legislator. 
He  who  inscribes  it  in  the  law  writes  under  the  dictation  of 
God. 

The  members  of  the  government  were  all  under  the  sway 
of  these  impressions.  There  could  not  be  a  more  favorable 
moment  to  impart  its  character  by  means  of  some  great  meas- 
ures to  the  republic.  It  ought  to  answer  the  magnanimity  of 
the  people  by  the  magnanimity  of  institutions.  At  this  moment 
the  government  did  not  contain  a  single  man  with  sufficient 
evil  inspiration  to  wish  to  make  the  republic  the  monopoly  of 
a  party  and  the  terror  of  other  parties,  and  to  arm  this  victori- 
ous and  tyrannical  party  with  proscriptions,  confiscations,  and 
scaffolds  of  terror.  But  the  name  of  republic  was  dishonored, 
in  the  minds  of  masses,  by  these  recollections.  The  blood  of 
1793  discolored  the  republic  of  1848.  It  was  necessary,  on 
the  first  day,  to  wash  away  these  stains,  to  repudiate  all  re- 
lationship between  the  two  epochs,  and  to  break  the  vsreapon 
of  revolution  by  the  hands  of  the  revolutionists  themselves,  for 
fear  lest  mad  or  vacked  men,  who  attempted  to  pervert  the 
people,  should  seize  on  these  arms  at  a  later  date,  and  should 
cause  the  name  of  the  republic  to  be  confounded  with  the 
memory  and  terror  of  the  crimes  committed  in  its  name. 

XXXVI. 

Each  of  the  members  present  at  the  council  searched  the 
depths  of  his  heart  and  mind  for  the  initiative  of  some  great 
reforms,  or  some  great  legislative,  political,  and  social  amelio- 


n 


.c^ 


224  HISTORY    OF    THE 

rations.  These  initiatives  are  the  philosophy  of  revolutions. 
It  is  these  which  establish,  in  a  single  daj-,  the  level  between 
the  advanced  ideas  of  a  period  and  the  past  facts  of  a  govern- 
ment. 

Some  proposed  the  immediate  abolition  of  negro  slavery, 
which  sullied  the  very  morality  of  our  laws,  and  threatened 
our  colonies  with  perpetual  disturbance. 

Others  suggested  the  repeal  of  the  laws  of  September,  which 
weighed  down  the  people  with  fines  equivalent  to  confisca- 
tions. 

These  were  for  fraternity  proclaimed  as  a  principle  between 
nations,  to  abolish  war  by  abolishing  conquest ;  those,  for  the 
abolition  of  the  electoral  census,  that  political  materialism  which 
placed  the  rights  of  property  above  the  rights  of  man. 

All  sustained  the  principle,  not  only  of  the  equality  of  rights, 
but  also  of  charity  between  different  classes  of  citizens,  a  prin- 
j  ciple  to  be  applied  by  all  institutions  of  aid,  succor,  association, 

I  and  beneficence,  compatible  with  the  freedom  of  capital  and 

!  the  security  of  property,  the  highest  charity  of  governments, 

j  which  would  preserve  society  and  protect  family. 

I  As  fast  as  these  great  democratic  truths,  rapidly  recognized, 

I  rather  than  coldly  discussed,  were  converted  into  decrees,  these 

j  decrees  passed  in  proclamations  to  the  people,  under  the  hand 

j  of  one  of  the  members,  ministers  or  secretaries  of  the  govern- 

!  ment.     A  portable  printing-press,  established  in  the  lobby  at 

]  the  door  of  the  council-chamber,  received  the  decrees,  printed 

I  them,  and  distributed  them  through  the  windows  to  the  crowd, 

j  and  by  couriers  to  the  departments. 

I  It  was  the  improvisation  of  a  century  to  which  the  revolution 

had  supplied  language  ;  the  rational  explosion  of  all  the  Chris- 
tian, philosophical,  and  democratic  truths,  which  had  been 
forming  for  half  a  century  in  the  minds  of  enlightened  schem- 
'  ers,  or  the  confused  aspirations  of  the  nation.     But  the  expe- 

rience of  this  half  century  had  matured  the  ideas  of  the  nation, 
and  the  men  who  issued  these  decrees  in  its  name.  This 
experience  was  seated,  in  the  persons  of  Dupont  de  I'Eure, 
Arago,  Marie,  and  Camot,  at  the  table  where  these  truths  re- 
ceived at  once  their  realization  and  their  proportions.  What 
was  remarkable,  in  a  session  thus  inspired  and  prolific,  there 
was  not  a  single  instance  of  rashness  or  exasfgeration  in  the 
acts  and  words  of  this  government  of  enthusiasm.  Not  one 
of  the  legislators  would  have  to  cancel,  at  a  later  period,  a 
single  engagement  which  he  entered  iivto  with  the  country  and 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  225 

the  future.     Each  of  these  decrees  might  remain  a  law  in  the 
hands  of  a  National  Assembly. 

XXXVIl. 

Wlien  the  session  was  nearly  ended,  and  the  programme  of 
the  republic  thus  completely  delineated,  Lamartine  began  to 
speak  with  uneasy  hesitation.  An  idea  had  been  agitating  in 
his  mind  since  the  preceding  evening.  He  brooded  over  it  be- 
fore producing  it,  fearful  of  presenting  it  before  its  maturity. 
He  did  not  distrust  the  hearts  of  his  colleagues,  but  he  dis- 
trusted some  of  the  prejudices  of  their  minds.  They  saw  by 
his  attitude,  and  learned  from  his  tone,  that  he  was  fearful  of 
compromising  a  great  truth  and  a  great  political  Aartue  by  their 
premature  production.  He  wished  to  present  them  at  first  in 
the  form  of  a  doubt,  perhaps,  to  allow  this  measure  to  be 
adjourned  at  the  first  glance,  to  be  afterwards  taken  up  by 
reflection. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  revolutions  also  have  a  great  pro- 
gress to  make,  a  generous  tribute  to  pay  to  humanit}^  I  am 
so  well  convinced  that  this  progress  is  commanded  by  God,  and 
would  be  recognized  and  blessed  by  man,  that,  if  I  were  the 
sole  dictator  and  revealer  of  this  revolution,  I  should  not  hesi- 
tate to  make  this  the  first  decree  of  the  republic.  And,  by  this 
decree  alone,  I  would  win  for  it  more  free  hearts  in  France  and 
Europe  than  hundreds  of  repressive  lav/s,  than  exile,  proscription, 
confiscation,  and  pimishment,  would  ever  bind  to  it  in  compul- 
sory fidelity.     I  would  abolish  the  penalty  of  death, 

"  I  would  abolish  it  for  every  reason,  for  society  no  longer 
requires  it.  Its  example,  in  dooming  the  criminal  to  death, 
per^^erts  more  than  it  intimidates.  Blood  calls  for  blood.  The 
principle  of  the  inviolability  of  human  life  would  be  better  de- 
fended should  society  itself  recognize  the  inviolability  of  even 
the  life  of  a  criminal.  But  if  this  great  progress  in  your  crim- 
inal legislation  must  be  reserved  for  the  National  Assembly,  the 
sole  mistress  of  social  laws,  at  least  I  would  immediately  abol- 
ish it  in  politics.  I  would  thus  disarm  the  people  of  a  weapon 
which,  in  all  revolutions,  they  have  always  turned  against 
themselves.  I  would  satisfy  those  timorous  imaginations  whicli 
are  afraid  of  the  advent  of  new  proscriptions  with  the  republic. 
I  would  put  human  blood  out  of  the  question.  I  would  inau- 
gurate the  reign  of  democracj'^  by  the  most  divine  amnesty,  and 
the  most  adroit  boldness  of  heart,  which  has  ever  been  pro- 
20 


226  HISTORY    OF    THE    REVOLUTION    OF    1S48. 

claimed  by  a  victorious  people,  v/hose  feet  were  yet  bathed  in 
blood.  I  would  boldly  cast  this  challenge  at  the  feet  of  the 
enemies  of  democracy ;  and  if  ever  the  republic  fell,  at  least  it 
should  not  fall  by  its  own  guilt,  and  it  would  be  revived  by  the 
admiration  with  which  it  would  have  inspired  the  world." 

XXXVIII. 

Lamartine  saw,  by  the  faces  of  his  colleagues,  that  this  prop- 
osition, while  astonishing  their  minds  by  its  audacity,  was  yet 
welcomed  by  all  hearts.  AU  declared  that  it  echoed  their  sen- 
timents. Objections  were  made  as  to  time,  and  by  casuists. 
It  was  rather  adjourned  for  after  consideration,  than  set  aside. 

Lamartine  was  satisfied  with  having  produced  a  mental 
movement.  He  had  sounded  the  depths  of  thought,  and  con- 
fided in  the  morrow.  He  did  not  press  the  subject.  The 
next  day  would  bring  him  a  report  of  the  interior  working  of 
a  truth  in  right  ir.inds  and  generous  hearts. 


BOOK  VIII. 


I. 

The  truce  seemed  destined  to  last  through  the  night  The 
session  ended  with  daybreak.  Still  the  minds  of  men  were 
anxious  with  regard  to  the  next  day,  and  the  aggressive  return 
threatened  by  the  terrorist  and  communist  bands.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  a  regular  force,  with  which  those  who  composed  the 
government  were  entirely  unprovided,  each  of  them  summoned 
his  own  energies,  and  the  good  citizens  of  his  quarter.  They 
were  conjured  to  form  a  rampart  of  breasts  and  bayonets,  which 
should  intimidate  the  factions,  if  they  should  attempt  a  final 
assault  around  the  Hotel  de  Ville  before  daybreak.  The  day 
was  destined  to  be  decisive. 

Lamartine  left  the  seat  of  government,  and  employed  a  por- 
tion of  the  night  in  rallying  his  friends  round  him,  and  distrib- 
uting them  through  me  city  to  recruit,  from  house  to  house, 
courageous  men,  disposed  to  come  voluntarily,  and  individually, 
to  save  the  flag  and  the  purity  of  the  republic.  He  warned 
the  young  men  particularly,  St.  Cyr,  the  Polytechnic  School, 
the  Normal  School,  and  the  students  of  law  and  medicine. 
He  knew  the  ascendency  these  young  men  had  over  the  people, 
who  respected  in  them  the  flower  of  their  time.  His  messen- 
gers, returning  to  Lamartine  before  daybreak,  brought  him  word 
of  the  unanimous'  and  heroic  devotion  of  these  young  men. 
They  had  all  risen  to  go  from  door  to  door  and  summon  their 
comrades.  There  was  'not  one  among  them  who  would  not 
have  sacrificed  his  life  to  shield  the  cradle  of  the  republic  from 
profanation  by  demagogues.  Wives  excited  their  husbands, 
mothers  their  sons,  and  sisters  their  brothers.  They  would 
have  fought  themselves,  had  their  sex  permitted  them  to  take 
up  arms.  They  strove,  in  their  hearts  at  least,  for  the  safely 
and  innocence  of  the  revolution.  It  is  one  of  the  peculiar 
characteristics  of  this  establishment  of  the  republic,  that  the 
lettered  or  military  youth  engaged  in  it  were,  from  the  first 


■»» 


•  /' 


/ 


/ 


HISTORY    OF   THE 


moment,  and  without  relaxation,  as  intrepid  in  modeidtion  aa 
in  impulse.  They  entertained  at  once,  and  unanimously,  an 
enthusiasm  for  philosophic  democracy,  and  a  horror  of  sangui- 
nary' demagogueism.  They  were  at  once  young  in  heart  and 
old  in  wisdom. 

Lamartine,  from  the  very  beginning,  noticed  this  phenome- 
non in  the  midst  of  the  young  volunteers  of  order  by  whom  he 
Avas  surrounded.  This  induced  him  to  conceive  a  good  omen 
for  the  republic.  Moderation  was  sure  to  triumph.  Wher- 
ever the  soul  of  youth  is,  there  lies  the  spirit  of  the  future. 


n. 

Five  or  six  thousand  armed  citizens  found  themselves,  before 
daybreak  of  the  following  day,  united  by  the  single  impulse  of 
public  safety,  before  the  gates  and  principal  issues  of  the  Hotel 
de  Ville.  The  place  de  Greve  was  soon  covered  by  a  multi- 
tude, whose  collected  aspect,  whose  expression,  at  once  intelli- 
gent and  finn,  evinced  the  grave  thoughts  of  a  people  witnessing 
its  own  regeneration,  instead  of  the  intoxicated  and  sanguinary 
notions  of  a  mob,  the  preface  to  sedition.  The  members  of  the 
government  were  all  at  their  posts,  with  the  exception  of  the 
minister  of  the  interior,  who  was  intrusted  with  the  safety  of 
Paris,  and  who  did  not  make  his  appearance  till  a  later  hour  of 
the  evening.  Whenever  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  Arago,  Marie,  and 
Cremieux,  were  seen  at  one  of  the  windows,  a  thousand  heads 
were  uncovered.  Shouts,  gestures,  and  clapping  of  hands,  dis- 
covered them  to  the  looks  and  enthusiasm  of  the  people.  The 
less  numerous  and  compact  bodies,  who  bore  the  red  flags,  ap- 
peared isolated  in  the  midst  of  this  crowd.  From  time  to  time 
these  disheartened  standards  were  seen  to  sink  under  the  repug- 
nance of  the  masses.  The  true  people  resumed  the  place  of 
which  demagogueism  wished  to  dispossess  them. 

The  members  of  government  and  the  ministers  resumed  their 
labor  of  effecting  universal  reorganization  with  a  more  marked 
concurrence  of  good  citizens. 

A  subject  of  deliberation  in  the  secret  council  was  the  atti- 
tude which  the  republic  ought  to  present  to  the  king,  his  fam- 
ily, his  ministers,  and  the  princes  who  commanded  in  Algeria. 
Some  men  about  the  government,  believing  in  opposition  in  the 
interior  under  the  war-cry  of  royalty,  urged  the  government  to 
adopt  measures,  not  of  rigor,  but  of  prudence,  towards  the 
fugitives.     To  search  for  the  ministers  who  were  still  hidden 


KEVOLUTION    OF    1S48. 


229 


in  Paris,  and  whom  domiciliary  visits  might  readilj^  discover ; 
to  pursue  the  king  and  queen,  wandering  upon  the  roads  to 
England,  which  might  easily  be  closed  against  their  flight ;  to 
seize  tlie  Duchess  of  Orleans  and  her  sons,  whose  footsteps  had 
been  traced,  and  whose  asylum  was  suspected  even  by  mem- 
bers of  government ;  to  retain  these  two  royal  generations  as 
hostages  of  the  republic  ;  to  confiscate  their  immense  proper- 
ties ;  to  confine  their  persons  ;  to  bring  to  trial  those  ministers 
whom  the  passionate  vei  geance  of  the  moment  made  respon- 
sible for  the  blood  shed  in  Paris,  —  such  were  the  counsels  that 
certain  politicians  of  the  revolutionary  routine  whispered  from 
without  to  the  dictators. 

This  advice  was  immediately  rejected  by  the  unanimous 
good  sense  and  generosity  of  the  government.  To  seize  upon 
the  minister  !  It  was,  on  the  one  hand,  to  bear  upon  misfor- 
tune, and  convert  faults  into  crimes ;  on  the  other,  to  prepare 
for  the  government  and  the  republic,  as  in  1S30,  the  embarrass- 
ment of  a  doubtful  suit,  in  which  it  would  have  been  as  dan- 
gerous to  convict  as  to  acquit.  To  pursue  the  king  and  his 
family  !  It  would  be  to  bring  them  back  to  Paris,  mild  and  rea- 
sonable to-day,  vindictive  and  irritable  to-morrow.  It  would  be, 
perhaps,  to  carry  into  an  uncertain  future  a  prey  for  terror,  and 
victims  for  an  odious  scaffold.  To  detain  the  Duchess  of  Or- 
leans and  her  children  !  That  would  be  to  imprison  misfortune, 
and  punish  innocence.  To  confiscate  the  personal  property  of 
the  royal  house  !  That  would  be  to  confound  the  king  with 
the  man,  the  public  with  the  private  domain  ;  to  strike  at  the 
principle  of  property  in  the  highest  fortunes  of  the  empire,  at 
the  very  moment  when  government  and  society  wished  to  de- 
fend, in  property,  the  basis  of  families,  and  the  existence  of 
future  generations.  Policy,  morality,  and  sentiment,  equally 
commanded  the  government  to  fortify  the  republic  against  these 
public  dangers,  this  severity  and  harshness.  They  indignantly 
rejected  all  thoughts  and  acts  of  national  recrimination.  The 
revolution  they  had  joined  to  save  and  elevate  should  never 
be  a  shameful  relapse  of  the  people  into  the  disgrace  and 
crimes  of  all  preceding  revolutions.  It  should  be  a  victoiy,  and 
not  an  act  of  vengeance  ;  a  progress  in  feeling  as  well  as  pub- 
lic reason,  and  not  a  vile  satisfaction  yielded  to  the  jealous  or 
cruel  instincts  of  parties. 

Some,  even,  would  have  wished  them  to  go  to  greater  lengths, 
in  braving,  at  once,  the  persecutors  and  courtiers  of  the  extinct 
dynasties.  They  spoke  of  the  approaching  and  safe  possibility 
20* 


230  HISTORY   OF   THE 

of  readmitting  all  these  dynasties,  only  interdicting  to  them 
the  functions  of  president  of  the  republic  during  a  certain  num- 
ber of  years. 

"  The  true  dynasty,"  said  Lamartine,  "  is  universal  suffrage. 
The  people  will  never  permit  themselves  to  be  divested  of  their 
sovereignty  to  restore  it  to  a  family.  Nations,  once  seated  on 
the  throne,  never  abdicate.  Let  us  accustom  them  to  think 
themselves  invincible  in  the  face  of  those  whom  they  have 
dethroned." 

III. 

These  purposes,  too  far  advanced  for  the  morrow  of  a  i^evo- 
lution,  were  only  a  subject  of  conversation.  But  the  measures 
of  safety  for  the  ministers,  and  national  generosity  for  the 
members  of  the  fallen  dynasty,  were  converted  into  secret 
resolutions.  Finally,  to  secure  a  better  reception  for  these  re- 
solves from  public  opinion,  and  to  satisfy  the  people  while  pre- 
serving the  life  and  liberty  of  the  king,  a  proclamation  of  the 
abolition  of  royalty,  under  all  the  royal  races  which  had  dis- 
puted the  possession  of  the  crown  for  fifty  years,  was  made. 

Lamartine  undertook,  on  his  own  responsibility,  at  his  per- 
sonal risk  and  peril  before  the  people,  to  permit  the  escape  of 
the  ministers,  if  they  were  seized  in  their  retreats ;  and  also 
agreed  to  follow  the  steps  of  the  king  and  queen,  the  princesses 
and  their  children,  and  to  send  agents,  accredited  by  him,  to 
protect,  if  necessary,  their  retirement  from  the  French  territo- 
ry ;  to  send  them  the  sums  necessary  for  their  subsistence,  and 
to  shield  them  as  far  as  the  frontiers,  not  only  by  security,  but 
by  those  tokens  of  respect  which  honor  the  people  who  pay  them, 
as  much  as  they  console  the  victims  of  human  catastrophes. 

The  minister  of  finance  was  authorized  to  pay  him  from  the 
secret  fund,  on  his  order,  a  sum  of  three  hundred  thousand 
francs,  for  this  safeguard  of  the  persons  of  royalty.  He  took 
fifty  thousand  only,  which  he  credited  to  the  account  of  foreign 
affairs,  in  order  to  place  them  in  the  hands  of  the  commission- 
ers at  their  departure.  This  precaution  was  useless.  No  sum 
was  expended.  It  will  be  seen  afterwards  what  prevented  the 
use  of  it  which  the  government  had  authorized. 

IV. 

The  council,  in  this  session,  wrote  their  decrees,  so  to  speak, 
under  the  dictation  of  the  national  feeling,  and  amid  the  ap- 


RI  VOLUTION    OF    1S4S.  231 

pit  ?e  of  the  public  square.  The  day  advanced,  but  the  peo- 
ple ".ollecting  with  the  day  in  innumerable  masses,  did  not 
alio  '  themselves  to  assist  in  the  action  of  the  government.  A 
vast  choir  of  voices,  under  the  windows,  upon  the  quaj's  and 
upon  the  bridges,  entered  with  their  hymns,  their  acclamations 
and  their  murmurs,  even  into  the  hall  of  deliberation.  But 
they  respected  at  that  moment  its  mystery  and  liberty. 

The  faces  of  the  members  of  government  beamed  at  last 
with  serenity.  The  thought  which  Lamartine  had  impressed 
during  the  evening  on  their  hearts  must  mount  at  such  an 
hour  to  their  lips.  Joy  is  magnanimous  in  the  masses.  That 
thought  floated  in  the  eyes  of  all.     Louis  Blanc  expressed  it. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  I  was  forcibly  struck  yesterday 
with  the  idea  of  M.  de  Lamartine,  an  idea  which  appeared  to 
me  at  first  sight  in  advance  of  our  position ;  but  since  the  gen- 
erosity of  the  people  has  ripened  for  twenty-four  hours,  they 
are,  perhaps,  capable  of  comprehending  and  accepting  it  to-day. 
It  is,  in  fine,  the  thought  of  disarming  ideas  and  the  people  of 
that  punishment  of  death,  which  saddens  the  heart,  envenoms 
opinions,  and  imbues  with  blood  the  very  conquests  and  vir- 
tues of  the  people.  I  move  that  we  deliberate  anew  upon  this 
proposition  of  M.  de  Lamartine,  and  that  we  grant  to  human- 
ity this  boon  of  joyful  presage  for  democracy  !  " 

Lamartine  thanked,  with  heart  and  look,  his  young  colleague. 
He  seized  the  hand  which  had  been  moved  to  take  up  his  own 
thought.  The  deliberation  was  a  short  exchange  of  assent 
and  reciprocal  congratulations.  The  heart  stifled  the  timid 
objections  of  the  mind.  The  greatness  of  this  act,  by  which 
seven  men,  whose  feet  had  been  bathed  in  the  blood  of  civil 
war  the  evening  before,  dared  to  propose  to  this  people  to  dis- 
arm themselves  forever  of  sword  and  scaflfold,  elevated  the 
thoughts  and  courage  of  all.  A  superhuman  inspiration  was 
visible  in  the  attitude  of  those  who  were  deliberating.  Thei'* 
eyes  were  moistened,  their  lips  were  trembling,  and  their  hands 
had  the  agitation  of  fever,  as  their  pens  ran  over  the  paper. 
Each  one  sought  a  draft  worthy  of  the  thought  to  be  pre- 
sented to  the  people.  That  of  Lamartine,  corrected  and 
amended  by  a  phrise  of  Louis  Blanc,  was  adopted.  The 
members  present  rose,  after  having  heard  it,  with  an  electric 
movement  of  enthusiasm.  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  Lamartine,  Ara- 
go,  Marie,  Cremieux  and  Pagnerre,  threw  themselves  into  each 
other's  arms,  like  men  who  have  just  saved  humanity  from  a 
shipwreck  of  blood.     They  put  on  their  tri-colored  belts,  the 


232  HISTORY    OF    THE 

only  marks  of  their  sovereign  authority.  They  prepared  to 
present,  for  the  ratification  of  the  people,  the  rash  decree 
which  they  had  dared  to  propose  in  their  name.  Lamartine 
was  charged  with  this  appeal  to  the  heart  of  the  multitude. 

V. 

The  voices  of  those  who  filled  the  Hotel  de  Ville  announced 
to  those  without  that  the  provisional  government  was  about  to 
descend.  A  confused  retinue  was  formed  about  them.  They 
passed  the  steps,  under  an  arch  of  peaceful  weapons  and  float- 
ing flags,  and  appeared  at  the  entrance  of  the  palace. 

Dupont  de  I'Eure,  depressed  by  weariness,  elevated  by  cour- 
age, gave  one  arm  to  Lamartine,  the  other  to  Louis  Blanc. 
The  crowd  preserved  a  religious  silence. 

Lamartine,  advancing  as  far  as  the  gate,  raised  himself  on 
an  estrade  near  the  cannons,  and  uttered,  with  the  full  compass 
of  the  human  voice,  some  phrases  of  congratulation  and  of 
good  augury,  over  those  thousands  of  persons  bowed  before 
him.  Their  heads  were  uncovered.  The  sun  fell  upon  their 
looks,  and  their  half  opened  lips  seemed  to  breathe  in  the 
words  before  having  heard  them ;  those  nearest  the  orator 
transmitted  them  to  those  more  distant.  Lamartine  spoke 
slowly,  as  the  sailor  on  the  sea,  to  give  time  for  the  sounds  to 
run  over  these  human  waves. 

He  commenced  by  melting,  and,  so  to  speak,  by  sanctifying 
the  multitude,  in  order  to  prepare  them,  by  a  religious  accent 
and  feeling,  for  the  decree,  which  he  wished  to  have  carried  by 
acclamations.  When  he  saw  recollection  in  their  faces,  emo- 
tion in  their  eyes,  and  acclamation  on  their  lips,  he  read  the 
decree. 

A  light  hesitation,  from  astonishment,  was  manifested  in 
some  of  the  groups.  A  murmur  might  destroy  all.  It  did  not 
break  forth.  At  each  phrase  of  the  preamble  and  decree,  the 
people,  representing  their  own  greatness  in  the  greatness  of  the 
thought  of  the  government,  interrupted  the  reading  by  clapping 
of  hands  and  benedictions,  which  spread  like  the  motion  of  the 
sea.  The  decree  was  received  like  a  gospel  of  humanity. 
The  government,  obeyed  and  adored,  reentered  the  vestibule. 

The  rest  of  the  day  was  devoted  to  joy.  "  If  this  revolu- 
tion had  only  this  day,"  cried  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  "  and  if  my 
last  years  had  only  this  hour,  I  should  not  regret  the  eighty 
years  of  labor  that  God  has  given  me." 


J 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  233 


VI. 


In  proceeding  from  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  to  take  suitable  meas- 
ures relative  to  the  royal  family,  Lamartine  was  recognized 
by  some  men  of  the  people,  at  the  entrance  of  the  quay.  On 
the  instant,  the  square,  covered  with  the  crowd,  was  moved  to 
form  his  retinue.  His  gestures  and  words  were  powerless  to 
dismiss  this  escort.  A  long  column  of  citizens  of  all  classes, 
and  especially  workmen,  accompanied  him  with  their  benedic- 
tions and  songs  as  (nr  as  the  Tuileries.  Arrived  at  the  gate 
of  the  palace,  the  multitude  who  formed  the  head  of  the  retinue 
wished  to  make  him  enter,  as  if  to  take  possession  of  his 
popular  royalty,  by  the  installation  of  the  new  government  in 
the  residence  of  kings.      Lamartine  refused  with  energy. 

"  The  citizens,"  said  he,  "  in  whom  the  people  temporarily 
repose  their  power,  should  have  no  other  palace  but  their  house." 

He  took  leave  of  a  part  of  his  escort ;  the  other  part  con- 
ducted him,  by  the  bridge  and  the  rue  du  Bac,  as  far  as  his 
dwelling.  The  crowd  arranged  themselves  respectfully  before 
his  door.  Lamartine  harangued  them  upon  the  threshold. 
"  You  have  shown  to-day  to  God  and  men,"  said  he  to  them, 
"  that  there  is  nothing  which  cannot  be  obtained  from  such 
a  people,  by  appealing  to  their  virtues.  This  day  will  be  in- 
scribed, in  your  history,  on  a  level  with  the  greatest  days  of 
your  national  grandeur.  For  the  glory  which  you  have 
acquired  by  it  will  not  call  upon  you  the  maledictions  of  vic- 
tims, nor  the  resentment  of  the  people,  but  the  benedictions  of 
posterity.  You  have  torn  the  flag  of  terror  from  the  hands  of 
the  second  republic  !  You  have  abolished  the  scaffold !  It  is 
enough  for  two  days !  Go  and  reassure  your  wives  and  your 
children,  in  their  homes,  and  tell  them  that  you  have  well 
merited,  not  only  from  history,  but  from  the  human  heart,  and 
from  God." 


vn. 

The  night  having  come,  Lamartine  went  out  alone  and  on 
foot,  wrapped  up  in  his  cloak,  to  avoid  being  recognized.  He 
went  to  the  hjuse  of  M.  de  Montalivet,  friend  and  confidant 
of  the  king.  Lamartine  did  not  doubt  that  M.  de  Montalivet 
knew  the  designs,  the  route,  and  the  asylum  of  the  royal  fam- 
ily. He  assured  the  ex-minister  that  the  government  dreaded 
more  to  seize  the  fugitives  than  they  could  themselves  fear 


234 


HISTORY    OF   THE 


being  arrested.  He  confided  to  him  the  protecting  designs  of 
his  colleagues,  together  with  the  sums  put  at  his  disposal  t( 
facilitate  departure  from  the  territory,  and  to  offer  the  firs) 
bread  of  exile  to  those  who  had,  the  day  before,  reignee 
oyer  France.  He  conjured  him  to  surrender  himself  to  hi. 
discretion  and  to  the  magnanimity  of  the  government,  decidei' 
to  prevent,  even  at  the  expense  of  its  popularity,  a  crime,  J 
remorse,  and  a  shame  to  the  republic, 

M.  de  Montalivet  was  touched  by  this  loyalty  and  magna 
nimity  of  a  government  which  so  well  interpreted  the  soul  of  ii 
great  people.  He  knew  nothing,  as  yet,  but  the  direction  ot 
the  king's  flight. 

This  prince,  on  quitting  Paris,  had  stopped  some  minutes  a> 
Saint  Cloud,  escorted  to  that  place  by  a  regiment  of  cuirassiers, 
and  persuaded  that  his  abdication  had  stifled  the  revolution 
and  that  his  grandson  already  reigned  in  his  stead.  He  hat 
written  to  M.  de  Montalivet  to  send  to  him,  at  his  chateaa 
d'Eu,  the  papers  and  articles  which  the  precipitation  of  hi. 
departure  had  prevented  him  from  taking  from  the  Tuileries, 
Thence  he  had  continued  his  route  to  the  chateau  d'Eu,  tht 
retreat  which  he  had  prepared  for  his  old  age,  the  asylum 
wliich  he  had  destined  for  his  widow,  the  tomb  he  ha^ 
raised  for  his  own  ashes,  and  for  the  ashes  of  the  children 
who  had  preceded  him  in  death. 

The  restless  afl^ection  of  M.  de  Montalivet  had  not  been 
able  to  learn  more  respecting  the  fate  of  the  king  whose 
friend  he  was.  He  only  knew  that  the  king,  after  a  short  sta) 
at  Eu,  had  gone  thence  by  circuitous  roads,  in  a  carriage 
without  followers,  and  under  some  disguise ;  and  that  he  waJ 
wandering  either  upon  the  coasts  or  upon  the  waves  of  the  chan- 
nel.  He  promised  Lamartine  to  inform  him  of  any  intelli 
gence  which  might  come  to  him.  Lamartine  returned,  had  a 
travelling  carriage  prepared,  and  begged  the  commissioners, 
whom  he  had  directed  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  star! 
at  the  first  signal,  to  go  to  the  exiles  from  the  throne,  as  the 
guard  of  that  security  and  respect  which  the  government  des- 
tined for  them.  One  of  the  commissioners  whom  Lamartine 
had  charg-ed  with  this  delicate  and  pious  mission  was  tho 
grandson  of  Lafayette.  Lamartine  thought  that  in  case  the 
king  had  been  recognized  and  arrested  at  Rouen  or  Havre,  or 
at  any  of  the  seaports,  the  name  of  Lafayette,  dear  to  the 
revolution,  and  pledge  of  respect  for  the  king  himself,  would 
protect  the  royal  family,  and  would  assure  the  execution  of  the 


REVOLUTION    OF    1849.  235 

measures  of  the  inviolability  of  persons,  and  of  decency,  taken  for 
their  free  departure.  The  two  other  commissioners  appointed 
were  M.  de  Champeaux  and  M.  Dargaud,  particular  friends  of 
Lamartine,  men  of  intelligence  and  courage,  both  devoted  in 
heart  to  their  mission,  and  initiated  into  the  designs  of  this  safe- 
guard of  misfortune. 

VIII. 

The  morrow  was  the  day  appointed  by  the  government  for 
the  proclamation,  or  rather  the  acclamation,  of  the  republic,  on 
the  place  de  la  Bastille.  For  the  people  it  was  a  vain  ceremo- 
nial ;  for  the  government  it  was  a  twofold  political  measure  : 
it  wished,  in  the  first  place,  to  verify,  by  an  authentic  solem- 
nity, the  defeat  of  the  partisans  of  the  red  flag,  and  the  republic 
of  violence ;  it  wished,  in  the  next  place,  to  pass  in  review 
the  National  Guard  of  Paris,  and  to  assure  itself  of  the 
civic  forces  that  good  citizens  could  at  need  afford  it  against 
the  factious.  The  problem  was,  whether,  after  the  down- 
fall of  government,  the  moral  spirit  of  the  National  Guard 
of  Paris,  composed  in  a  vast  majority  of  the  bourgeoisie, 
would  feel  itself  vanquished  with  the  throne  ?  Would  it 
abandon  the  street  to  the  only  armed  combatants  of  the  three 
days  ?  Would  it  rally  to  the  republic,  as  it  had  rallied  to  the 
revolution  during  the  struggle  ?  and  would  it  associate  itself, 
in  the  same  progressive  movement  of  order  and  of  liberty, 
with  the  unanimity  of  the  people  ?  The  government  wished 
to  know  this ;  it  wished,  above  all,  to  demonstrate  it,  for  the 
sake  of  producing  an  imposing  effect  upon  agitators,  by  the  con- 
cord and  the  massiveness  of  the  manifestation. 

The  proclamation  and  the  procession  beneath  the  column  of 
July  had  been  fixed  the  preceding  day  for  two  o'clock  in  this 
afternoon.  While  the  different  legions  were  taking  up  their 
positions  on  the  boulevard,  while  the  people  inundated  the 
rue  Saint  Antoine  and  the  quarters  which  empty  their  currents 
upon  the  Bastille,  and  the  train  of  the  government  was  forming 
on  the  square,  a  fresh  sedition,  but  a  sedition  of  ideas  rather 
than  a  sedition  of  passion,  murmured  under  the  windows  and 
in  the  halls  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

The  terrorists,  the  communists,  the  demagogues,  vanquished 
two  days  before,  seemed  to  have  renounced,  for  the  moment, 
the  idea  of  new  assaults.  The  energy  of  good  citizens,  the 
wisdom  of  the  mass  of  the  people,  had  thrown  them  back  into 
shadow  and  inactivity ;  all  they  had  kept  of  the  red  flag  were 


I 


236  HISTORY   OF   THE 

cockades  and  red  ribbons,  which  they  still  affected  to  wear  on 
their  hats  and  their  coats. 

But  there  is  in  Paris  a  mass  of  workmen,  of  artists,  and  of 
artisans,  belonging  to  those  trades  in  which  the  hand  is  the  most 
nearly  connected  with  the  head,  typographers,  engravers,  mech- 
anicians, cabinet-makers,  locksmiths,  carpenters,  and  others, 
forming  together  a  mass  of  about  fifty  thousand  men.  These 
artists,  artisans,  workmen,  are  generally  born,  or  domiciliated, 
establifihed,  married,  at  Paris;  they  receive  considerable  wages 
whenever  industry  competes  for  their  services.  They  have 
leisure  ;  they  employ  it,  some  in  dissoluteness  and  debaucher)', 
for  which  labor  can  never  sufficiently  make  up  —  the  largest 
number  in  professional  studies,  in  reading,  in  courses  of  scien- 
tific, philosophical,  religious  lectures,  which  sharpen  their 
minds  for  political  or  social  controversies ;  a  lower,  but  still 
educated,  stratum,  beneath  that  great  stratum  of  intelligence 
and  literature  which  covers  the  moral  soil  of  France. 

These  men  are  the  flower  of  that  portion  of  the  people  which 
work  with  the  hand ;  they  are  confounded,  by  education,  man- 
ners, costume,  with  the  classes  that  live  by  the  liberal  profes- 
sions ;  of  the  lowest  ranks  at  the  root,  they  are  already  advanced 
at  the  top  to  the  condition  of  respectable  citizenship.  They 
have  among  themselves,  in  each  trade,  societies,  associations, 
organizations  for  mutual  aid,  orators,  delegates,  who  gain  their 
confidence,  and  discuss  their  interests  with  the  contractors ; 
honest  enough  to  detest  bloodshed,  to  hold  pillage  in  abhorrence, 
averse  to  disorder,  they  are  sufficiently  well-informed  to  be 
accessible  to  sophism  —  not  profound  enough  to  confute  it  and 
repel  it. 

It  is  among  these  men  that  the  different  socialist  schools, 
which  had  multiplied  since  1830  at  Paris,  at  Lyons,  at  Rouen, 
in  Germany,  recruited  their  numerous  disciples.  The  problem, 
thus  far  without  radical  solution,  of  the  inequality  of  human 
conditions,  of  extreme  misery  at  the  side  of  extreme  wealth, 
scandalized  them,  as  it  has  scandalized  in  vain  all  the  philoso- 
phers and  all  the  religious  men  of  all  ages.  They  flattered 
themselves  that  they  had  found  a  solution,  —  some  by  imitation 
of  the  monastic  system,  with  Fourier ;  others  by  imitation  of 
the  brutal  system  of  the  castes  of  India,  with  Saint-Simtii : 
some  by  religious  joint-property  in  the  soil,  with  Pierre  Leroux ; 
others  by  suppression  of  specie  as  the  sign  of  riches,  with 
Proudhon  :  the  greatest  number,  repelled  by  the  impossibility, 
the  violence,  th",  chimerical  nature,  of  these  schools,  believed 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S43.  237 

they  had  found  a  practical  adjustment  in  the  system,  less  un- 
reasonable at  the  first  aspect,  and  less  disturbing  in  appearance, 
of  Louis  Blanc. 

This  system,  called  by  the  elastic  name  of  association,  and 
applicable  in  effect  with  advantage  within  certain  limits,  bore 
for  them  the  generic  definition  of  the  organization  of  labor. 
Now,  the  organization  of  labor,  thus  understood,  being  only  the 
enslaving  of  capital  and  the  sovereign  and  arbitran,''  rating  of 
wages  by  the  state,  suppresses  liberty  on  the  part  of  the  propri- 
etor, the  interest  of  labor  on  the  part  of  the  laborer,  and  conse- 
quently suppresses  capital,  wages,  and  labor,  by  a  single  blow. 
It  is  the  maximum,  generalized  and  bearing  upon  the  entire 
in  lustrial  and  territorial  society.  It  is  making  the  state,  God, 
and  labor,  a  slave ;  it  is  the  death  of  all  free  relations  between 
man  and  man,  under  the  pretext  of  destroying  the  abuses  of 
competition.  This  party  abolishes,  purely  and  simply,  the 
possession  of  capital  and  its  liberty;  that  is  to  say,  it  indirectly 
abolishes  property,  like  all  the  schools  of  this  nature,  and  to- 
gether with  property  it  would  abolish  society,  the  famil)',  and 
the  man. 

This  latter  system,  nevertheless,  expounded  with  great  confi- 
dence, great  moderation,  and  great  eloquence,  by  the  young 
writer,  had  not  convinced,  but  beguiled,  quite  a  large  number 
of  these  workmen.  Louis  Blanc  AVas  their  apostle ;  they  be- 
lieved in  him,  if  notas  inspired,  at  least  as  a  master  and  a  guide 
in  the  investigation  of  the  industrial  problem.  The  ultimate 
consequences  did  not  strike  them  ;  for  Louis  Blanc  did  not 
seem  to  avow  them  to  himself.  While  in  the  act  of  destroying, 
he  believed  he  was  simply  doing  a  work  of  amelioration. 

IX. 

Those  masses  were  for  many  days  agitated  by  these  shadows 
of  ideas.  They  saw  their  master  at  the  threshold  of  power,  in 
the  capacity  of  secretary,  and  presently  a  member  of  govern- 
ment. They  were,  perhaps,  impelled  by  the  breath  of  ambi- 
tious aspirations,  which  hid  themselves  behind  a  popular  name. 
They  wished  to  profit  by  the  breach  opened  to  all  innovators  by 
the  revolution,  to  launch  their  system  into  the  republic,  and  so 
to  identify  it  with  the  republic  from  the  outset  that  a  separation 
could  not  afterwards  take  place. 

Since  the  morning,  they  had  been  pouring  into  the  square 
and  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  sending  deputations  on  deputations 
21 


23S  HISIORY    OF    THE 

to  the  members  of  government,  to  demand  the  nomination  of 
Louis  Blanc  as  minister  of  progress,  and  instant  incorporation 
of  the  words  "  organization  of  labor"  in  tlie  programme  of  the 
promises  guaranteed  to  the  people.  Louis  Blanc  himself 
strongly  advised  his  appointment  to  this  vague  and  indefinite 
ministry  of  progress.  He  seemed  to  think  that  nothing  but  this 
satisfaction  to  his  name  would  calm  the  multitude. 

All  the  members  of  the  government  energetically  resisted, 
during  four  hours,  demands  reiterated  under  all  forms  of  indus- 
trial socialism.  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  Arago,  Goudchaux,  and 
Marie,  by  turns,  addressed  the  delegates  of  the  working  people 
freely,  but  without  being  able  to  restrain  their  urgency. 

It  was  vainly  demonstrated  to  them  that  the  pressure  of  the 
hand  of  the  republic  upon  capital  would  instantly  remove  or 
bury  it;  that  all  labor  and  wages  would  disappear  with  it;  that 
the  liberty  and  security  of  traffic  were  the  very  essence  of  all 
industry  and  commerce ;  that  they  demanded  the  suicide  of 
laboring  men.  They  drowned  every  objection  by  their  vocifer- 
ations. A  thousand  forms  of  expression  were  attempted  with- 
out finding  one  which  would  satisfy  them  without  involving 
the  republic  in  an  impracticable  sophism.  They  even  went  so 
far  as  to  write  the  word  organization  of  labor,  defining  it  inof- 
fensively and  practically,  by  giving  it  the  only  sense  it  could 
have  from  the  hand  of  legislator  —  that  oi  surveillance  of  labor, 
and  aid  to  laborers.  A  large  majority  of  the  government 
refused  to  sign  a  word  of  double  meaning;  and  the  workmen 
themselves  would  not  have  it  on  these  terms. 


This  irritation,  so  formidable  at  such  a  moment,  increased, 
A  final  deputation  filled  the  halls,  and  hammered  with  their 
knuckles,  or  sword-hilts,  on  the  council-table.  Lamartine, 
standing  in  the  front  of  the  most  animated  delegates,  addressed 
them,  in  the  name  of  his  colleagues,  with  the  resolution  of  men 
who  are  shielding  a  community  with  their  bodies.  "  Citizens," 
said  he,  pointing  to  the  square,  where  their  comrades,  with 
lighted  matches,  guarded  four  pieces  of  cannon  at  the  gates, 
"  you  should  place  me  before  the  muzzles  of  those  guns  before 
you  would  make  me  sign  these  two  words  associated  to- 
gether :  — '  Organization  of  labor.'  " 

A  murmur  of  astonishment  and  anger  rose  in  the  halls.   The 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  239 

table  only  separated  Lamartine  and  his  colleagues  from  the 
most  irritated  workmen. 

"  Let  me  speak  reason  to  reasonable  men,"  continued  La- 
martine. "  I  am  going  to  tell  you  why  I  will  never  sign  this 
decree.  I  have  two  reasons,  citizens.  The  first  is,  that  I  do 
not  think  myself  either  more  or  less  intelligent  than  any  other 
man  of  my  age  and  country,  and  that,  after  twenty  years  of 
reflection  and  study  of  the  conditions  of  industrial  society,  I 
have  been  unable  to  understand  these  two  words  :n  connection, 
one  of  which  excludes  the  other  I  will  not  sign  what  I  cannot 
understand. 

"  The  second  is,  that,  if  we  should  promise  you  the  organiza- 
tion of  labor,  we  should  promise  what  no  human  power  could 
fulfil.  1  Avill  sign  only  such  engagements  with  the  people  as 
1  can  fulfil." 

These  firm  words,  accompanied  by  the  accent  of  conviction 
which  inspired  them,  began  to  make  the  most  intelligent  and 
most  moderate  of  the  workmen  reflect.  Lamartine,  taking 
advantage  opportunely  of  their  softened  dispositions,  requested 
permission  to  discuss  freely  and  frankly  with  them  the  important 
question  which  was  brewing  beneath  the  republic.  He  discussed 
it  at  length,  in  its  details,  and  with  proof.  He  demonstrated,  by 
the  absurdity  of  the  consequences,  the  vanity  and  odiousnessof 
the  principle  of  violating  the  liberty  of  capital  in  industry.  He 
rendered  palpable  to  these  men,  whose  fanaticism  had  been  kin- 
dled by  a  trick  of  speech,  the  impracticability  of  their  system.  He 
exposed  this  trick  of  speech,  and  developed  from  it  the  nothing- 
ness, the  vanity,  the  ruin  of  all  through  the  oppression  of  a  few. 

"  You  see  it,"  he  added  ;  "  in  demanding  the  absolute  control 
of  the  state  over  capital  and  over  wages,  you  are  made  to 
dream  of  the  annihilation  of  capital,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  very 
source  of  all  labor.  It  is  your  hunger  and  your  thirst,  and  the 
gradual  extinction  of  yourselves,  your  wives  and  your  children, 
that  you  demand  !  We  should  have  the  courage  to  refuse  you 
these  plagues,  which  you  mistake  for  realities,  and  which  are 
thus  far  only  the  mirage  of  illusion  and  wretchedness  !  No ; 
we  will  not  be  accomplices  in  the  delirium  of  this  fever  that  is 
thus  enkindled  in  the  most  interesting,  because  the  most  sufpjr- 
ing,  portion  of  the  people  !  We  will  refuse  you  your  own  de- 
struction, which  you  would  snatch  from  us. 

"  But  do  you  understand,  by  organization  of  labor,  the  open- 
ing of  the  eye  and  hand  of  the  republic  upon  the  condition  of 
the  working  class,  in  order  to  elevate,  to  enlighten,  to    ameli- 


240  HISTORY    OF    THE 

orate  it,  to  improve  its  morals  incessantly?  " —  ("  Yes,  yes  !  " 
shouted  these  men,  already  turned  from  their  chimeras.)  — "  Do 
you  understand  by  it  institutions  of  professional  instruction,  of 
apprenticeship,  of  intellectual  and  material  aid  to  workmen  ? 
of  gratuitous  education  for  their  children?  of  healthfulness  for 
their  labors  ?  of  assistance  for  their  infirm  and  their  aged  ?  of 
mutual  associations,  encouraged  by  the  state,  in  order  to  help 
them  pass  periods  of  crisis  and  forced  want  of  work,  like  the 
present  ?  Do  you  understand  by  it  the  more  and  more  equita- 
ble and  Christian  distribution  of  taxes,  which  deducts  a  portion 
of  them  for  the  relief  of  the  unmerited  miseries  of  the  labor- 
ing classes,  as  in  England,  and  which  proportions  the  taxes  to 
the  fortune?" — "  Yes,  yes  !  "  replied  the  delegates,  with  enthu- 
siasm. "  That  is  all  we  want.  We  demand  from  government 
only  justice  and  moderation,  only  guarantees  against  stagnation 
of  work,  and  against  the  indigence  of  our  families  !  Our  own 
arms  will  suffice  for  the  rest !  And  we  will  again  devote  them 
to  the  service  of  our  country," 

"  Well,  if  that  is  all  you  desire,"  rejoins  Lamartine,  "  we 
desire  it  with  you,  and  still  more  ardently,  for  we  are  not  of 
those  who  impose  limits  to  the  progress  of  the  divine  morality 
in  society,  or  limits  to  the  duties  of  property  and  of  govern- 
ment towards  the  destitute,  who  are  men  and  citizens  as  well 
as  ourselves.  We  desire  that  this  revolution  may  benefit 
them  :  we  desire  that  it  may  elevate  them,  in  the  first  place, 
to  political  rights;  in  the  next,  to  the  right  of  property  by  vir- 
tue of  labor.  But  we  desire  that  it  may  benefit  some  without 
injuring  others,  without  abandoning  society  to  chaos,  to  pil- 
lage, to  chimeras  which  would  demolish  it  to  universal  ruin, 
and  yours  the  earliest ! 

"  Now,  the  organization  of  labor  is,  in  our  eyes,  only  the 
confiscation  of  capital,  the  robbery  of  wages,  the  annihilation 
of  a  part,  and  the  most  active  part,  of  property,  the  im.possi- 
bility  of  government,  the  immediate  cessation  of  all  labor,  the 
starvation,  at  once,  of  the  pauper  and  proprietor!  Once  again, 
I  will  never  sign  your  own  misery,  and  your  own  condemna- 
tion ! "  And  he  threw  from  his  left  hand  the  paper  already 
drafted.  The  workmen  applauded,  and  mingled  with  the 
escort  which  descended  with  the  rrovernment. 


&^ 


XI. 

An  innumerable  crowd  attended  the  new  power.     The  min- 
isters, the  generals  remaining  in  Paris,  the  principal  authori- 


'     RARY 
'  THE 
UNIVERSI,/  Of  luir.oic 


a 
S 
s: 

o 
o 

ij 

?;: 
o 

o 

e: 

a 

H 
b 

o 

I 

en 

w 
o 
o 

« 

Ph 
Q 


REVOLUTION    OF    1348. 


241 


ties,  the  mayors  of  Paris,  surrounded  the  government.  Some 
battalions  of  National  Guards,  mingled  with  the  armed  peo- 
ple, opened  the  march.  They  passed  with  difHculty  through 
the  multitude.  The  members  of  the  government  were  on 
foot,  in  their  costume  of  private  citizens,  marked  only  by  a 
tri-colored  belt.  This  simplicity,  far  from  humiliating,  in- 
creased the  greatness  of  the  republic.  The  people  appeared 
to  enjoy  the  sight  of  power  descending  into  its  bosom,  disdain- 
ing the  influence  of  the  pomp  and  prestige  of  royalty  over 
their  senses,  and  only  offering  to  their  eyes  a  power  of  neces- 
sity and  reason,  personified  by  five  or  six  men,  clothed  like 
themselves. 

The  quays,  the  streets,  the  balconies,  the  windows,  and  the 
roofs,  were  covered  with  spectators.  The  rue  Saint  Antoine, 
at  the  part  where  it  enlarges,  like  the  mouth  of  a  river,  in 
approaching  the  Bastille,  was  obstructed  with  waves  of  people. 
In  going  from  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  some  red  flags,  and  a  great 
number  of  red  ribbons  on  the  coats,  still  struck  the  eye.  As 
the  procession  advanced  in  the  midst  of  acclamations,  these 
flags  were  voluntarily  lovvered.  The  pavements  were  strown 
with  red  cockades  and  ribbons,  discarded  by  those  who  wore 
them,  and  cast  into  the  streets  under  the  feet  of  the  dictators. 
Incessant  cries  of  Vive  le  gouvernement  provisoire!  were  raised 
and  prolonged,  mounting  from  story  to  story,  and  echoing  from 
facade  to  facade. 

Arago,  his  head  uncovered,  and  exposing  his  white  hair  to 
the  sun  and  wind,  marched  at  the  side  of  Lamartine.  These 
two  names  were  the  most  applauded.  That  of  Dupont  de 
I'Eure  appeared  to  inspire  more  veneration ;  that  of  Ledru 
Rollin,  more  passion  ;  that  of  Louis  Blanc,  more  of  rare  but 
bitter  fanaticism.  Their  faces  breathed  the  hope  and  serenity 
of  a  return  of  calm  after  the  season  of  tempests. 

The  government  established  itself  at  the  foot  of  the  column. 
Dupont  de  I'Eure  and  Arago  faced  the  procession.  They 
replied  to  the  congratulations  and  speeches.  The  republic 
was  sanctioned  by  the  unanimous  acclamation  of  the  people 
and  the  National  Guard.  This  acclamation  was  prolonged, 
as  by  an  electrical  consent,  along  the  line  of  legions,  from  the 
bridge  of  Austerlitz  to  the  Madeleine.  Society,  abandoned  by 
monarchy,  took  refuge  in  liberty.  There  was  no  longer  a 
contest  of  systems,  —  there  was  the  concord  of  reason. 

The  procession  continued  four  hours,  at  a  rapid  pace.  A 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  bayonets,  representing  all  pro- 
21* 


242  HISTORY   OF    THE 

fessions  and  all  opinioMS,  saluted  the  republic,  and  rose  towards 
the  sky,  to  attest  their  desire  to  defend  order,  by  defending; 
the  government. 

XII. 

During  the  review,  Lamartine  kept  himself  constantly  in  the 
rear  of  the  procession.  He  took  off  his  insignia  of  office,  and  min- 
gled in  the  crowd,  to  retire.  Recognized,  as  in  the  evening,  at  the 
corner  of  the  rue  Saint  Antoine,  he  was  followed.  The  people 
of  this  quarter  had  seen  him  in  action  during  the  scenes  of  the 
red  flag.  This  people  had  conceived  for  him  that  enthusiasm 
which  energy  inspires  in  the  multitude,  even  when  it  resists 
them.  A  vast  crowd,  collected  on  his  steps,  surrounded  him, 
and  inundated  the  place  Royale.  Lamartine  could  only  escape 
a  popular  triumph,  which  would  have  agitated  and  disquieted 
Paris,  by  running  for  shelter  into  one  of  the  houses  of  the 
square,  inhabited  by  M.  Hugo.  The  genius  of  eternal  popu- 
larity gave  an  asylum  to  the  popularity  of  a  day.  While  the 
crowd  was  knocking  at  the  doors,  the  porter  made  Lamartine 
pass  over  the  interior  courts,  and  a  wall  which  opened  on  a 
deserted  street.  He  mounted,  his  face  covered  with  his  cloak, 
into  a  cabriolet,  which  was  just  passing.  He  asked  the  driver 
to  conduct  him  to  his  house,  through  unfrequented  streets. 

He  preserved  silence.  The  driver,  seated  at  his  side,  showed 
him  the  handle  of  his  broken  whip.  He  told  him  that  he  had 
destroyed  this  whip  the  evening  before,  while  conducting  one 
of  the  fugitive  ministers  of  royalty  out  of  Paris.  Lamartine, 
silent,  was  struck  by  this  vicissitude  of  human  fortune,  by 
which,  in  the  interval  of  two  days,  and  in  the  same  carriage, 
one  politician  escaped  from  pursuit,  and  another  from  triumph. 

The  manifestation  of  strength  and  concord,  which  the  review 
of  the  armed  people  and  the  National  Guard  had  given  in  this 
pacific  and  unanimous  proclamation  of  the  republic,  gave  to 
Paris  the  security  and  order  of  a  capital  which  had  not  changed 
its  government. 

The  republic  was  proclaimed  or  accepted  with  the  same 
unanimity  in  the  departments.  Thirty-six  millions  of  souls 
changed  their  sovereignty  without  the  loss  of  a  life.  Blood 
had  flowed  at  Paris  for  or  against  Reforme.  Not  a  drop  of 
blood  had  flowed  in  France  for  or  against  the  republic.  Pas- 
sion said  to  some,  the  republic  is  your  conquest;  to  others,  the 
republic  is  your  safety ;  to  all,  it  is  your  necessity. 


NOTE    ro   SECTION  XII.,   PAGE   42. 

"  If  there  had  been  in  the  coiii-;ituent  assembly  more  statesmen  than 
philosophers,  it  would  have  felt  that  an  intermediate  state  was  impossible 
under  the  protection  of  a  half-dethroned  king.  The  guardianship  and 
administration  of  conquests  are  not  committed  to  the  vanquished.  An 
absolute  party  is  the  only  sure  party  for  great  crises.  It  is  genius  to 
know  how  to  seize  these  extreme  parties  at  the  right  moment.  Let  us 
speak  it  boldly  ;  history  will  some  day  say  the  same  as  we  do.  There 
was  a  time  when  the  constituent  assembly  might  have  chosen  between 
monarchy  and  a  republic,  and  when  it  should  have  chosen  a  republic. 
In  that  consisted  the  safety,  the  legitimacy  of  the  revolution.  In  wanting 
resolution,  it  wanted  prudence. 

"  But  they  say,  with  Barnave,  France  is  monarchical  from  her  geogra- 
phy as  well  as  from  her  character  ;  and  a  debate  is  raised  at  once  between 
monarchy  and  the  republic.     Let  us  be  understood : — 

"  Geography  is  of  no  party :  Rome  and  Carthage  had  no  frontiers ; 
Genoa  and  Venice  had  no  territories.  It  is  not  the  soil  which  determines 
the  nature  of  institutions  ;  it  is  the  age.  The  geographical  objection  of 
Barnave  fell,  a  year  afterwards,  before  the  prodigies  of  France  in  1793. 
She  has  shown  whether  a  republic  wants  unity  and  centralization  to  de- 
fend a  continental  nationality.  Waves  and  mountains  are  the  frontiers 
of  the  weak.  Men  are  the  frontiers  of  the  people.  Let  us  then  leave 
geography.  We  no  longer  have  geometricians  to  draft  social  constitu- 
tions ;  we  have  statesmen. 

'•'Now,  nations  have  two  great  instincts,  which  reveal  to  them  the 
form  which  they  must  take,  according  to  the  hour  of  the  national  life  to 
which  they  have  arrived ;  the  instinct  of  their  preservation  and  that  of  their 
increase.  To  act  or  to  repose,  to  march  or  remain  stationar}^,  are  two 
wholly  different  acts,  which  require  of  men  entirely  different  attitudes. 
It  is  the  same  with  nations.  The  monarchy  or  the  republic  answer 
exactly,  among  a  people,  to  the  wants  of  these  two  opposed  states  of  being, 
repose  or  action.  We  here  understand  these  two  words,  repose  and  action, 
in  their  most  absolute  sense.  For  there  is  also  repose  in  republics,  and 
action  under  monarchies. 

"  Has  a  people  arrived  at  one  of  those  epochs  when  it  is  necessary 
for  them  to  act  with  the  whole  intensity  of  their  strength,  in  order  to 
make,  either  at  home  or  abroad,  one  of  those  organic  transformations, 
which  are  as  necessary  for  a  people  as  the  current  is  for  a  river,  or  an  ex- 
plosion for  compressed  forces  ?  The  republic  is  the  necessary  and  fated 
form  of  a  nation  at  such  a  moment.  For  a  sudden,  irresistible,  and  con- 
vulsive action  of  the  social  body,  the  arms  and  will  of  all  are  necessary. 
The  r)eople  collect  in  crowds,  and  expose  themselves,  without  order,  to  the 
danger.  They  alone  can  suffice  for  the  crisis.  What  other  arm  than 
that  of  the  whole  people  can  remove  what  they  have  to  remove?  displace 
what  they  wish  to  destroy?  install  what  they  wish  to  establish?    Mon- 


244  NOTE. 

archy,  in  attempting  this,  -would  break  a  thousand  times  its  sceptre 
There  is  need  of  a  lever  which  can  raise  tliirty  millions  of  wills.  That 
lever  the  nation  alone  possess 3s.  It  is  itself  the  motive  force,  the  fulcrum 
and  the  lever. 

*  W  *  ff  -If  ^F 

"  The  constituent  assembl/^  was  then  blind  and  feeble,  in  not  giving  a 
republic  to  tlie  revolution,  as  its  natural  instrument.  Mirabeau,  Bailly, 
Lafayette,  Sieyes,  Barnave,  Talleyrand,  Lameh,  acted  in  this  like  plii- 
losophers,  not  like  great  politicians.  The  event  has  proved  it.  They 
believed  the  revolution  was  finished  as  soon  as  it  was  decreed;  they 
believed  the  monarchy  converted  as  soon  as  it  had  sworn  to  the  constitu- 
tion. The  revolution  had  only  commenced,  and  the  oath  of  royalty  to  the 
revolution  was  as  vain  as  the  oath  of  the  revolution  to  royally.  These 
two  elements  could  only  assimilate  after  the  interval  of  a  century.  This 
interval  was  the  republic.  A  people  does  not  pass  in  a  day,  nor  even  iu 
fifty  years,  from  revolutionary  action  to  monarchical  repose.  It  would  be 
to  forget,  at  a  time  when  it  is  necessary  to  remember  it,  that  the  crisis  has 
been  so  terrible,  and  that  it  agitates  us  yet.  If  the  revolution,  which 
always  pursues  its  course,  had  received  its  proper  and  natural  government, 
the  republic,  —  that  republic  would  have  been  less  tumultuous  and  restless 
than  our  five  attempts  at  monarchy.  The  nature  of  the  age  in  which  we 
live  protests  against  the  traditional  form  of  power.  At  an  epoch  of  move- 
ment, a  government  of  movement.     Behold  the  law ! 

"  The  repubUc,  if  it  had  been  legally  established  by  the  assembly  in  its 
right  and  authority,  would  have  been  very  different  from  the  republic 
which  was  perfidiously  and  atrociously  seized  upon,  nine  months  after, 
by  the  insurrection  of  the  10th  of  August.  It  would  have  had,  without 
doubt,  the  agitations  inseparable  from  the  infancy  of  a  new  order.  It 
would  not  have  escaped  the  disorders  inevitable  in  a  country  from  the 
first  movement,  incited  by  the  very  greatness  of  its  dangers.  But 
it  would  have  sprung  from  a  law  instead  of  having  sprung  from  a  sedi- 
tion, from  a  right  in  place  of  a  wrong,  from  a  deliberation  instead  of  an 
insurrection.  That  alone  would  change  the  sinister  conditions  of  its 
future.     It  must  become  restless ;  it  might  have  remained  pure. 

"  See  how  the  single  fact  of  its  legal  and  well-weighed  proclamation 
would  change  everything.  The  10th  of  August  vvould  not  have  taken 
place  ;  the  perfidy  and  tyranny  of  the  commUne  of  Paris,  the  massacre 
of  the  guards,  the  assault  of  the  palace,  the  flight  of  the  king  to  the 
assembly,  the  outrages  with  which  he  was  covered  —  in  fine,  his  imprison- 
ment in  the  temple,  would  have  been  spared.  The  republic  would  not 
have  slain  a  king,  a  queen,  an  innocent  child,  and  a  virtuous  princess. 
It  would  rot  have  had  the  massacres  of  September,  those  Saint  Barthol- 
omews of  the  people  that  stain  forever  the  swaddling  clothes  of  liberty. 
It  would  not  have  been  baptized  in  the  blood  of  three  hundred  thousand 
victims.  It  would  not  have  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  revolutionary  tri- 
bunal the  axe  of  the  people,  with  which  it  immolated  a  whole  genera^ 
tion  to  give  place  to  an  idea.  It  would  not  have  had  the  31st  of  May. 
The  Girondists,  coming  pure  into  power,  would  have  had  more  strength 
to  combat  demagogueism.  The  republic,  deliberately  established,  Avould 
have  intimidated  Europe  in  a  very  difierent  manner  irom  a  sedition  legiti- 
mated by  murder  and  assassination.  The  war  might  have  been  avoided : 
♦  *  *  #  * 


NOTE.  245 

or,  if  the  war  was  inevitable,  it  would  have  been  more  unanimous  and 
triumphant.  Our  generals  would  not  have  been  massacred  by  their 
soldiers  at  cries  of  treason.  The  spirit  of  nations  would  have  fought 
with  us,  and  the  horror  of  our  days  of^ August,  of  September  and  January, 
would  not  have  repulsed  from  our  standard  hearts  attracted  by  our  doc- 
trines. Behold  how  a  single  change  at  the  beginning  of  the  republic 
would  have  changed  the  fate  of  the  revolution  ! 

"In  fine,  the  constituent  assembly,  whose  thought  lighted  up  the  globe, 
whose  audacity  in  two  years  transformed  an  empire,  had  only  one  wrong 
at  the  close  of  its  work ;  that  of  reposing.  It  should  have  perpetuated 
itself ;  it  abdicated.  A  nation  which  abdicates  after  two  years  of 
rule,  and  upon  a  heap  of  ruins,  bequeaths  the  sceptre  to  anarchy. 
The  king  could  no  longer  rule ;  the  nation  did  not  wish  to  rule  ;  the  fac- 
tions  ruled.  The  revolution  perished,  not  on  account  of  too  great  desires, 
but  for  the  want  of  sufficient  daring.  So  true  is  it  that  the  timidity  of 
nations  is  not  less  sad  than  the  weakness  of  kings,  and  that  a  people  which 
does  not  know  how  to  take  and  preserve  all  which  belongs  to  it,  tempts 
at  once  tyranny  and  anarchy !  The  assembly  dared  all,  excepting  to 
reign.  The  reign  of  the  revolution  could  alone  be  called  a  republic. 
The  assembly  left  that  name  to  factions  and  that  form  to  terror.  This 
was  its  fault,  .t  expiated  it,  and  the  expiation  of  this  fault  is  not  finished 
for  France. 


'     RARV 
"  THE 
UNIVERSh/  Of  lUlfoi^ 


THE  EX-ROYAL  FAMILY   OF   FRANCE. 

Prince  dc  Joinville.  Duke  de  Montpensier.  Duke  d'Aumale. 

Duke  de  Nemours.      Louis  Philippe,  Ex-King  of  the  French.      Duchess  of  Orleans 

Count  de  Paris.         Duke  de  Chartres.    Marie  Amelie,  Ex-Queen  of  the  French. 


HISTOEY 


OF   THE 


FRENCH  REVOLUTION 


OF 


18  48. 


BY  A.  DE  LAMARTINE. 


Quilibet  nautarum,  rectorumque  tranquillo  mari  gubemare  potest :  ubi  soeva  ortu  tern- 
pestu  est,  ac  turbato  mari,  vento  rapilur  navis,  iilm  viris  opus  est. 

Address  of  Fabiua  to  the  Senate. 


TRA^ SLATED   BY 

FRANCIS  A.  DURIVAGE  AND  WILLIAM  S.  CHASE. 

FIRST    AMERICAN    EDITION. 

IN   TWO   VOLUMES. 

VOL.    II. 


BOSTON: 
PHILLIPS,   SAMPSON   &  COMPANY, 

no    Washington    Street. 

1851. 


.^^'Jl 


HISTOEY 


OF   THE 


EEVOLUTION  OF  1848. 


BOOK  IX. 


I. 

Enthusiasm  had  seized  upon  the  entire  people  since  the  gov- 
ernment had  put  an  end  to  bloodshed,  protected  persons,  saved 
property,  proclaimed  the  republic,  and  banished  the  symbols  of 
terror  and  anarchy.  Concord,  at  their  summons,  had  entered 
the  hearts  of  the  citizens,  and  joy  sparkled  in  their  faces.  The 
fraternity  of  words  was  translated  into  acts.  The  revolution 
seemed  a  festival  rather  than  a  catastrophe. 

The  government  was  seconded  in  its  measures  by  the  three 
most  powerful  passions  of  the  human  heart,  fear,  hope,  and 
enthusiasm.  The  rich,  independent,  middling,  landed,  indus- 
trial and  commercial  classes,  had  just  feared  that  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  throne,  and  the  name  of  republic,  would  be  a  signal 
for  the  spoliations,  massacres,  and  scaffolds,  whose  memory  had 
been  for  fifty  years  confounded  with  the  image  of  republican 
institutions.  These  classes  were  surprised,  and  even  touched, 
to  see  and  hear  plans  and  decrees  which  emphatically  repudi- 
ated all  analogy  and  consanguinity  between  the  two  republics. 
They  forgot,  for  a  moment,  the  advantages,  monopolies,  pubHc 
employments,  emoluments,  and  favors,  they  had  lost  by  the  fall 
sf  the  royalty  of  July.  They  only  thought  of  the  security  to 
their  titles  and  fortune  guaranteed  to  them  by  the  government. 
They  rallied,  and  hurried  to  the  new  government  like  ship- 
wrecked men  to  the  fragments  of  a  wreck.  They  poured  into 
the  Hotel  de  Ville.  They  offered  their  purses,  their  hands  and 
hearts,  to  the  men  who  had  sprung  to  the  helm  to  save  society 
from  destruction.  They  were  resigned  to  a  republic,  provided 
that  the  republic  insured  the  safety  of  all. 
VOL.   u.  1 


2  HISTORY   OF   THE 

The  landed  or  industrial  portion  of  the  people,  who  live  by 
order,  credit,  exchange,  and  labor,  had  experienced  the  same 
fears,  and  shared  the  same  sentiments.  The  proletaries,  the 
working-men,  the  laborers,  who  have  no  capital  but  their  hands, 
no  income  but  their  wages,  and  no  social  patrimony  but  their 
morality  and  their  economy,  were  filled  with  enthusiastic  grat- 
itude and  hope,  for  a  revolution  which  raised  them  to  the  rank 
of  citizens,  and  restored  to  them  their  just  portion  of  social 
rights  and  political  sovereignty.  They  felt  that  their  fate  was 
henceforth  in  their  own  hands.  The  republic,  in  admitting  to 
its  councils  representatives  chosen  by  them,  and  sometimes 
from  among  them,  promised  an  era  of  equality,  justice,  and 
providence,  for  an  immense  class  for  a  long  time  deprived  of  aU 
participation  in  the  laws.  Still  they  exaggerated  neither  their 
grievances,  their  parts,  nor  their  exigences.  They  loudly  pro- 
claimed respect  for  property,  the  inviolability  of  capital,  a  free 
contract  for  wages  between  the  laborer  and  the  manufacturer, 
who  proportions  them  to  his  profits.  It  might  be  said  that 
society  understood  itself.  An  incalculable  mass  of  reason,  in- 
formation, moderation  in  desire,  and  religious  morality,  had, 
within  a  half  century,  thoroughly  penetrated  this  population  by 
all  its  pores.  Not  only  did  they  become  calm,  resigned,  and 
reorganized,  at  the  voice  of  an  unarmed  government,  but  they 
lent  it  arms,  gave  it  time,  displayed  patience  towards  it,  put 
up  with  half  wages  in  their  free  workshops,  or  a  feeble  alimen- 
tary succor  in  the  national  workshops  opened  by  the  municipali- 
ties of  Paris.  Some  of  them  even  disinterestedly  resigned 
these  wages  of  distress,  to  avoid  increasing  the  expenses  of  the 
republic.  Others  went  further  yet,  and  uniting  themselves  in 
professional  bodies,  from  a  pure  impulse  of  patriotism,  imposed 
a  tax  upon  themselves,  and  brought  hourly  to  the  government 
the  voluntary  impost  saved  out  of  their  bread,  the  tithe  of  the 
sweat  of  their  brows.  This  they  did  unostentatiously,  vir- 
tuously, and  with  tears.  Whosoever  saw  them  then,  will  never 
despair  of  this  people.  It  is  the  heart  of  the  nation ;  it  suf- 
fices to  touch  it,  and  forth  gush  treasures  of  disinterestedness, 
resignation,  and  courage.     Hope  governed  them. 

II. 

Finally,  the  audacit}''  with  which  a  few  disinterested  and 
unambitious  men  had  perilled  their  lives,  in  rushing  to  the 
head  of  the  people  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  to  prevent  anarchy, 


REVOLUriON    OF    1848.  3 

and  save  at  once  the  revolu'iion  and  society  ;  the  desperate  and 
victorious  resistance  of  these  men  to  the  red  flag,  to  the  terror, 
excess,  and  madness,  which  were  sought  to  be  imposed  on 
them ;  all  this  had  inspired  all  the  healthy  portions  of  the  popu- 
lation with  a  sincere  respect  for  them.  The  dramatic  scenes  at 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  of  which  a  thousand  witnesses  had  circu- 
lated exaggerated  accounts  through  Paris  and  the  departments, 
had  shown  the  nation  that  they  were  not  guided  by  weak  tools 
of  sedition,  but  by  men  capable  of  confronting  and  subduing  it. 
These  days,  during  which  a  few  men  struggled  against  armed 
masses  without  wavering,  had  inspired  confidence,  and  given 
immense  authority  to  the  provisional  government.  At  first 
only  a  breath,  it  had  become  a  power  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville 
The  name  of  Lamartine,  at  first  the  least  popular  with  the 
mass  of  the  people  of  Paris,  was  deeply  stamped  upon  the  public 
imagination  by  his  acts  and  words.  His  popularity  gained,  instead 
of  dying  out,  by  resistance.  It  became  with  the  people  who  saw 
him  and  heard  him  constantly  a  species  of  inviolability.  Pub- 
lic favor,  which  smooths  every  path,  sustained  the  government 
on  the  brink  of  so  many  abysses.  Everything  seemed  to  return, 
of  itself,  to  legality,  reason,  proportion,  and  order,  through  that 
occult  strength  which  impels  all  nations  to  rise  as  soon  as  they 
have  fallen  :  —  the  regulating  instinct  of  human  aggregations, 
which  materialists  call  the  habit  of  society,  which  history  calls 
civilization,  and  philosophy  by  its  true  name,  the  divine  law  of 
our  nature,  the  finger  of  God.  It  was  never  more  manifest  to 
the  spirit,  and  almost  the  eye,  of  the  religious  man,  than  in  this 
crisis,  in  which  a  people  without  a  government  was  of  itself  its 
own  master,  its  own  strength,  and  its  own  law. 


m. 

But,  while  the  old  government  was  retiring  from  the  soil, 
and  the  new  government  being  installed  in  the  interior,  the 
whole  of  Europe  pressed  upon  the  minds  of  the  provisional 
government.  It  was  time  to  give  it  attention.  Up  to  that 
time  the  revolution,  the  republic,  the  measures  against  civil 
war ;  the  acceptan«  3  of  the  new  rule  by  the  departments,  the 
fleet,  the  army,  and  Algeria  ;  the  laborious  reestablishment  of 
order  in  Paris  ;  the  supply  of  this  capital ;  the  creation  of  work- 
shops ;  the  organization  of  succor  for  three  millions  of  mouths 
without  bread  ;  the  reorganization  of  the  ministry  ;  the  prepar- 
atory measures  for  the  formation  of  the  new  National  Guard, 


4  HISTORY   OF    THE 

to  embrace  all  the  resident  popalation :  in  fine,  the  relmitting 
and  extension  of  the  whole  nel-work  of  administration  over  a 
country  of  so  many  millions  of  souls  ;  the  daily  exhaustion  and 
supply  of  the  treasury  ;  the  completion  of  the  army ;  the  pro- 
tection of  the  frontiers ;  the  superintendence  of  the  harbors ; 
the  addresses  and  consultations ;  the  tumultuous  deputations 
and  seditious  assaults  to  be  received  and  repulsed  in  the  heart  of 
the  Hotel  de  ViUe,  incessantly  crowded  up  and  receiving  crowds, 
had  occupied  the  govenunent  both  night  and  day. 

IV. 

It  was  only  on  the  evening  of  the  sixth  day  that  Lamartine 
was  able  to  leave  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  go  and  take  posses- 
sion of  the  ministry  of  foreign  affairs.  The  minister  of  the 
interior,  and  the  other  ministers,  who  were  at  the  same  time 
members  of  the  government,  intrusted  .jvith  vast  administra- 
tive details,  and  various  duties  of  the  greatest  urgency,  had 
assumed  the  direction  of  their  departments  on  the  evening  of 
the  24th.  That  of  foreign  affairs  could  wait,  without  incon- 
venience, until  France  had  become  satisfied.  The  presence  of 
the  minister,  brought  into  the  most  constant  contact  with  the 
people,  was  more  necessary  at  the  centre  of  the  revolution  than 
in  the  cabinet  of  his  hotel. 

On  the  27th  he  had  named  M.  Bastide  under-secretary  of 
state  for  his  department.  He  had  requested  him  to  go,  in  his 
name,  and  secure  the  evacuation  of  the  hotel,  occupied  by  com- 
batants, and  protected  by  a  detachment  of  National  Guards  of 
the  1st  legion.  The  voluntary  zeal  of  these  citizens,  and  the 
spontaneous  respect  of  the  people  for  the  principal  branches  of 
their  national  organization,  had  prevailed  over  their  anger 
against  the  dwelling-place  of  a  fugitive  minister.  The  hotel 
had  been  invaded,  but  the  interior  respected.  The  personal 
property,  the  cabinet,  and  the  archives,  had  remained  untouched. 
M.  Bastide  was  a  man  of  coolness  and  resolution.  His  name 
was  rendered  popular  by  a  long  republican  opposition  in  the 
National.  He  had  a  reputation  for  probity,  which  he  deserved. 
The  people  knew  M.  Bastide.  Lamartine  did  not  know  him 
before  the  24th  of  February.  During  the  first  tumults  of  the 
first  night,  and  the  assaults  of  the  second  day,  he  had  been 
struck  by  the  attitude,  the  good  sense,  and  the  inflexibility  of 
a  man  of  lofty  stature,  severe  features,  and  the  bearing  of  a 
soldier  whose  duty   is   self-imposed.     He  thought  this  man 


RE^-OLUTION   OF    1818.  5 

would  be  a  valuable  auxiliary  in  a  revolution  wliich  promised 
to  be  a  daily  struggle,  prolonged  for  many  months,  against 
demagogueism,  and  whose  leaders  wished  to  remain  pure,  or 
die.  He  had  calculated,  moreover,  that  the  name  of  13astide, 
a  republican  of  old  date,  would,  by  its  note,  cover  the  name  of 
Lamartine,  whose  republicanism,  till  then  purely  philosophical, 
would  be  readily  suspected  by  the  multitude.  Under  the  eyes 
of  Bastide,  no  treason  against  the  republic  was  to  be  feared. 
The  minister  might  moderate  the  revolution  in  its  relations  to 
Europe,  restrain  war,  and  save  the  blood  of  France  and  hu- 
manity, without  being  accused  of  surrendering  the  revolution. 
Bastide  had  modestly  accepted  a  post  which  he  thought  supe- 
rior to  his  abilities.  As  for  his  ambition,  he  had  none  but  that 
of  serving  his  cause,  and  of  sacrificing  to  it  his  blood  and  his 
tranquillity.  His  words  and  character  touched  Lamartine,  as. 
if  he  had  found  the  somewhat  disfigured  statue  of  incorruptibil- 
ity in  a  time  of  intrigue,  effeminacy,  and  corruption. 


Lamartine  took  to  the  field  of  battle  the  chief  of  his  special 
cabinet.  This  was  Payer,  who  had  not  left  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 
the  council-table,  or  the  steps  of  Lamartine,  in  the  most  critical 
moments,  since  the  evening  of  the  24th.  Young,  active, 
honest,  intrepid,  and  devoted,  Lamartine  selected  him  without 
knowing  him  otherwise  than  by  sight.  He  did  not  repent  of 
his  selection.  In  such  a  juncture  hours  count  as  years  ;  a  flash 
reveals  to  you  a  talent.  When  you  place  your  hand  upon  a 
man  you  are  rarely  deceived,  because  you  take  character  in 
action. 

On  entering  the  ministry  of  foreign  affairs,  he  found  the 
hotel  occupied  by  detachments  of  National  Guards  and  combat- 
ants. Bastide  had  established  military  order  in  the  service. 
It  was  a  garrison  rather  than  a  ministerial  hotel.  Men  bi- 
vouacked in  the  courts,  ante-chambers,  and  halls,  and  on  the 
staircases. 

The  cabinet  and  chamber  of  M.  Guizot  were  opened  to  the 
new  ministry.  His  shadow  was  still  there.  The  chamber, 
bed,  tables,  furnitui  s,  and  scattered  papers,  in  the  state  in  which 
the  man  of  the  moiiarchy  had  left  them  on  the  night  of  the  23d, 
showed  the  precipitate  departure  of  a  minister  who  thinks  to  go 
out  for  a  moment,  and  leaves  his  post  forever.  A  female  friend 
of  the  former  minister  accompanied    Lamartine  in  this  first 

VOL.   II.  1* 


6  HISTORY    OF    THE 

inspection  of  the  apartments.  She  requested,  in  the  name  of  the 
mother  and  children  of  the  exile,  the  private  papers,  the  memen- 
tos dear  to  the  husband  or  father,  the  articles  which  belonged 
personally  to  the  minister,  and  the  little  money  he  left  be- 
hind. Lamartine  had  these  possessions  of  the  heart  restored 
with  respectful  inviolability  to  the  lady  who  represented  the 
family  of  M.  Guizot,  and  hastened  to  leave  this  chamber,  where 
two  governments  had  met  and  surprised  each  other,  so  to  speak, 
within  so  few  hours.  Without  hatred  to  the  dethroned  family, 
without  animosity  against  an  eminent  man,  whose  very  fall 
would  have  softened  enmity  had  he  harbored  it,  Lamartine 
beheld,  in  this  inventory,  only  a  melancholy  sport  of  political 
vicissitude,  the  versatility  of  a  people,  the  eclipse  of  a  lofty  for- 
tune and  great  talent,  the  mourning  of  a  family,  and  the  empti- 
ness of  a  house  so  lately  full  and  joyous.  He  recoiled  from 
taking  possession  of  an  apartment  which  had  just  brought  misfor- 
tune to  its  guests.  He  was  not  superstitious,  but  he  was  a 
man  of  feeling.  He  was  not  afraid  of  the  presages,  but  the  remin- 
iscences, recorded  by  these  walls.  He  had  mattresses  spread  in 
the  dark  and  naked  chambers  of  the  ground  floor,  and  preferred 
encamping  there  to  installing  himself  in  a  palace  which  con- 
sumed its  possessors. 

VI. 

On  examining  the  political  papers  left  by  the  minister  of  the 
monarchy  on  the  table  of  the  business  cabinet,  he  perceived  his 
own  name.  Curiosity  attracted  his  eyes.  It  was  a  little  note 
made  by  M.  Guizot  for  his  last  speech  in  the  Chamber  of  Dep- 
uties. It  contamed  these  words  : — "  The  longer  I  listen  toM. 
de  Lamartine  the  more  I  feel  that  we  can  never  come  to  an 
understanding."  The  revolution  had  interrupted  the  discussion, 
and  submerged  the  tribune,  before  the  reply.  Strange  sport  of 
chance,  which  had  thrown  this  note  of  M.  Guizot  on  the  table 
and  caused  it  to  be  found  by  his  successor  !  Lamartine  did  not 
triumph  at  it.  In  this  ministry,  where  he  had  been  thrown  by  the 
wave  of  a  revolution,  he  did  not  see  a  spoil,  but  an  accident,  a 
work,  and  a  devotion.  He  passed  a  part  of  the  night  in  reflect- 
ing on  the  attitude  he  ought  to  assume  for  the  republic  exter- 
nally. 


REVOLUTION    OF    184S. 


VII. 


The  repull  iic,  as  Lamartine  understood  it,  was  not  an  over- 
throw, at  all  hazards,  of  France  and  the  entire  world.  It  was 
an  accession,  revolutionary,  accidental,  and  sudden  in  form,  but 
regular  in  its  development  of  democracy;  a  progress  in  the 
paths  of  philosophy  and  humanity ;  a  second  and  happier  at- 
tempt of  a  great  people  to  extricate  itself  from  the  tutelage  of 
dynasties,  and  to  learn  the  lesson  of  self-government. 

Wat,  f^r  C-jm  being  an  advancement  of  humanity,  is  a  whole- 
sale rnuraer,  which  retards,  afflicts,  decimates,  and  dishonors  it. 
Those  nations  who  sport  with  blood  are  instruments  of  ruin, 
and  not  instruments  of  life,  in  the  world.  They  increase,  but 
they  increase  against  the  designs  of  God,  and  end  by  losing  in 
one  day  of  justice  all  they  have  acquired  by  years  of  violence. 
Illegitimate  murder  is  no  less  a  crime  in  a  nation  than  in  an 
individual.  Conquest  and  glory  adorn,  but  do  not  make  it 
innocent.  Now  every  national  crime  is  a  false  foundation, 
which  does  not  advance,  but  which  engulfs,  civilization.  Under 
this  philosophical,  moral,  and  religious  point  of  view,  —  and 
in  politics  the  loftiest  is  always  the  most  correct  point  of  view,  — 
Lamartine  was  unwilling  to  confer  war  upon  the  new  republic 
as  a  tendency  or  a  diversion.  A  bloody  diversion  belongs  only 
to  tjTants  or  Machiavellis. 

In  a  republican  point  of  view  Lamartine  was  no  less  opposed 
to  war.  He  foresaw  too  clearly  the  instability  of  the  people 
whose  history  he  had  just  written,  not  to  know  that  the  repub- 
lic would  perish  by  the  first  brilliant  victor)-  it  should  achieve 
before  time  and  manners  had  rooted  it.  A  victorious  general, 
returning  to  Paris,  escorted  by  the  popularity  of  his  name,  and 
supported  by  the  attachment  of  a  numerous  party,  would  re- 
ceive either  ostracism  or  a  dictatorship.  Ostracism  would  be 
the  shame,  dictatorship  the  end,  of  liberty.  Finally,  in  a  politi- 
cal and  national  point  of  view,  Lamartine  considered  oflfensive 
war  as  fatal  to  the  institution  of  the  republic  itself,  and  as  fatal 
to  the  nation. 


VIII. 

The  situation  of  Europe  was  as  follows  :  the  treaties  of  1S15, 
the  basis  of  European  public  right,  had  driven  back  France 
within  territorial  limits  too  narrow  for  her  pride,  perhaps  for 
her  activity.      These  treaties  had  also  sequestrated  her  in  a 


b  HISTORY    OF    THE 

diplomatic  isolation  and  deprivation  of  alliance  wliich  rendered 
her  constantly  gloomy  and  uneasy.  The  restoration,  a  govern- 
ment imposed  as  much  as  accepted,  might  have  renounced  these 
alliances,  and  created  a  French  system  on  the  continent  and  on 
the  seas,  either  by  an  alliance  with  Germany  against  Kussia 
and  England,  or  by  a  coalition  with  Russia  against  England 
and  Austria.  In  the  former  event,  France  would  have  obtained 
developments  in  Savoy,  Switzerland,  and  the  Prussian-Rhenish 
provinces,  by  concessions  granted  to  Austria  in  Italy  and  on  the 
lower  Danube  and  the  shore  of  the  Adriatic. 

In  the  latter  event,  France  would  have  stifled  Austria  be- 
tween herself  and  Russia ;  she  would  have  expanded  liberally 
in  Italy,  resumed  Belgium  and  the  frontiers  of  the  Rhine,  and 
advanced  on  Spain,  Constantinople,  the  Black  Sea,  the  Dar- 
danelles; and  the  Adriatic,  conceded  to  Russian  ambition,  would 
have  secured  these  extensions  to  her.  Russian  alliance  is  the 
cry  of  nature.  It  is  a  geographical  revelation.  It  is  the  al- 
liance of  war  for  the  eventualities  of  the  future  of  two  great 
races  —  the  equilibrium  of  peace  by  two  great  weights  at  the 
extremities  of  the  continent,  compressing  the  centre,  and  confin- 
ing England  as  a  satellite  power  on  the  ocean  and  in  Asia.  The 
restoration,  by  its  monarchical  and  anti-revolutionary  power, 
gave  pledges  to  one  or  the  other  of  these  alliances.  It  was  of 
the  legitimate  family  of  kings.  It  was  related  to  thrones,  and 
could  not  menace  them  without  the  overthrow  of  its  own 
nature. 

IX. 

The  Orleans  dynasty  would  have  liked  to  hold  these  condi- 
tions of  moral  security  for  the  reigning  houses,  and  to  natural- 
ize itself  speedily  in  the  families  of  sovereigns,  but  it  bore  two 
stains  which  caused  it  to  be  recognized  and  feared  :  an  appear- 
ance of  usurpation  in  its  accession  to  the  throne,  and  a  semi- 
revolutionary  character  in  its  election  in  1S30.  Russia  re- 
pulsed its  advances  ;  Austria  exacted  a  high  price  for  its  toler- 
ance ;  Prussia  watched  it.  England  alone  accepted  it,  but  on 
conditions  of  subordination,  and  sometimes  of  humiliating  com- 
plicity with  British  policy.  Odious  to  the  revolution  it  had 
plundered ;  suspected  by  ihe  people,  who  expected  nothing  of  it; 
a  source  of  anxiety  to  kings,  who  reproached  with  the  usurpa- 
tion of  a  throne;  it  could  have  only  an  isolated,  personal  and 
temporary  policy  of  truce  with  all  the  world,  and  alliance  with 
none.    Its  very  fall,  while  alarming  kings,  gave  them  a  sort  of 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S48.  9 

secret  satisfaction,  in  contnidiction  with  their  interests,  but  in 
accordance  with  their  nature.  There  was  vengeance  in  this 
joy  of  reigning  houses.  The  revolution  of  February  seemed  an 
expiation  to  all  of  them.  Their  politics  suffered,  but  their 
hearts  dilated. 

Russia,  which  had  no  contact  with  France,  gave  herself  little 
concern  about  a  revolution  in  Paris.  She  was  too  well  con- 
vinced of  the  material  impossibility  of  an  intervention  of  France 
in  Poland,  so  long  as  Germany  would  not  open  the  road,  and 
would  not  be  an  auxiliary  to  the  independence  of  the  Poles. 

Austria  would  be  alarmed.  But  the  eminent  statesman  who 
had  governed  the  Austrian  monarchy  for  twenty  years,  Prince 
de  Metternich,  had  adopted  for  a  long  time  a  servile  polic)', 
which  set  everything  to  sleep  around  him,  and  left  monarchical 
fatality  to  govern  in  his  stead.  A  man  of  experience,  but  worn 
down,  he  had  seen  the  fortunes  of  Austria  rise  and  fall  so  often 
that  he  no  longer  troubled  himself  with  their  fluctuations.  Th  us 
Hungary,  Croatia,  Gallicia,  Bohemia  and  Italy,  were  rapidly 
disintegrating  under  his  hand,  and  the  influence  of  the  house 
of  Austria  was  touching  its  decadence.  The  republic  agitated 
without  dispelling  this  somnolency. 

Prussia  was  the  sensitive,  living,  and  active  point  on  that 
side  ;  it  was  on  the  Prussian  cabinet  that  England  applied  the 
lever  of  her  continental  diplomacy ;  it  was  also  through  this 
court  that  Russia  acted  on  Germany  :  but  the  Prussian  popula- 
tions, disturbed  at  the  British  ascendency  over  them,  mortified 
by  Russian  omnipotence,  excited  by  the  ambition  of  governing 
Germany,  and  penetrated,  through  their  Rhenish  provinces,  by 
the  contagion  of  liberal  and  constitutional  ideas,  leaned  towards 
France.  They  drew  their  statesmen  in  the  same  direction ; 
the  republic  seemed  to  them  the  advent  of  a  double  destiny  for 
Prussia  :  the  constitutional  system,  instead  of  a  military  mon- 
archy ;  ascendency  over  Austria,  instead  of  a  secondary  part, 
little  consistent  with  their  army  and  their  civilization.  The 
anxiety  which  Prussia  might  feel  with  regard  to  her  Rhenish 
provinces  did  not  overcome  these  enjoj'ments  of  national  am- 
bition. Should  she  lose  her  provinces  by  their  reannexation  to 
the  French  centre,  she  saw  compensation  in  Germany,  Hano- 
ver, Holstein,  and  elsewhere. 

X. 

As  for  England,  she  had  at  first  favored  the  Orleans  dynasty, 
because  that  dynasty,  poorly  established,  roust  for  a  long  time 


10  HISTORY   OF    THE 

cause  France  to  oscillate,  and  hold  Europe  in  a  system  of  inde- 
cision and  umbrage,  which  the  Britisli  cabinet  could  employ  to 
their  advantage.  But  the  ministrj^  of  M.  Thiers,  in  1S40,  by 
vainly  threatening  to  dispute  with  England  her  natural  road  to 
the  East  Indies,  and  her  necessaiy  ascendency  in  Egypt,  had 
alienated  England,  irritated  the  national  spirit  of  the  two  na- 
tions, revived  old  prejudices,  and  brought  out  old  animosities, 
which  had  been  but  poorly  healed.  This  ministry,  it  is  true, 
liad  wisely  recoiled  from  war  at  the  last  moment,  and  finished 
the  quarrel  b}'  the  humiliating  vote  of  the  Sth  of  October. 
But  distrust  had  remained  in  the  midst  of  reconciliation. 

England  had  seen  the  king  raising  the  fortifications  of  Paris, 
and  encouraging,  by  voice  and  gesture,  the  singing  of  the  Maj'- 
seillaise,  that  tocsin  of  extreine  war.  She  had  withdrawn  nearer 
to  Russia,  The  ministry  of  M.  Guizot  at  first  made  every 
concession  to  regain  her  confidence.  This  minister,  at  first  a 
favorite  of  England,  because  he  seemed  to  have  been  formed  on 
the  model  of  the  statesmen  of  Great  Britain,  and  because  he 
assumed,  with  great  haughtiness  of  attitude  and  talent,  the  part 
of  a  tory  of  the  revolution,  had  also  lost  ground  in  the  opinion 
of  the  English. 

As  the  ambassador  to  London  during  the  belligerent  minis- 
try of  M,  Thiers,  M.  Guizot  had  been  in  the  eminently  false 
position  of  a  man  who  wishes  for  peace,  and  threatens  his 
friends  with  war  in  a  bad  cause.  Recalled  to  France,  by  the 
king  and  the  conservatives,  to  repair  faults  of  which  he  had 
been  himself  guilty,  as  a  member  of  the  parliamentary  coalition 
at  Paris,  and  as  M.  Thiers'  ambassador  at  London,  his  situation 
was  false  in  France,  and  falser  yet  in  London.  He  was  com- 
pelled at  once  to  maintain  and  repudiate,  up  to  a  certain  point, 
what  he  had  said  at  the  tribune  in  opposition,  and  what  he  had 
done  at  London  as  agent  of  the  ministry  of  1S40  ;  and  he  had 
at  the  same  time  to  reiissure,  caress  and  pacify,  the  conserva- 
tive party,  of  which  he  had  again  become  the  chief.  There  is 
no  human  genius  which  is  equal  to  the  extent  of  a  false  posi- 
tion. M.  Guizot,  while  doing  full  justice  to  England  on  the 
Egyptian  qu.estion,  was  impelled,  by  the  necessity  of  regaining 
a  certain  popularity  against  England  elsewhere,  to  disturb  her 
by  a  struggle  of  influence  in  Spain.  He  thus  served  or  flat- 
tered the  ambition  of  the  king's  family  —  he  showed  him  one 
crown  more  for  his  house  at  Madrid. 

The  impolitic  marriage  of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier  with 
the  sister  of  the  Queen  of  Spain, — prepared  as  an  intrigue,  sud- 


EEVOLUTION    OF    1848.  11 

denly  discover ;d  as  a  snare,  and  afterwrtrds  proclaimed  as  a 
victory, — had  offended  England  deeply.  This  coolness  of  Eng- 
land had  forced  the  cabinet  of  the  Tuileries  to  draw  near  to 
Austriaj  by  making  her  concessions  in  the  affairs  of  Switzer- 
land, contraiy  to  the  security  of  France,  to  the  independence 
of  nations,  and  yet  more  to  the  spirit  of  the  revolution.  The 
marriage  of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier  with  the  Spanish  prin- 
cess would  inevitably  bring  about  a  rupture  with  England,  an  1 
a  war  of  succession,  in  which  France  would  have  to  lavish  its 
treasure  and  blood  for  a  purely  dynastic  influence.  This  mar- 
riage bore  in  itself  such  germs  of  destruction  for  the  policy  and 
for  the  very  throne  of  Louis  Philippe,  that  they  struck  all  diplo- 
matists. The  day  when  this  pretended  triumph  of  the  dynasty 
of  Orleans  became  known,  Lamartine  exclaimed,  in  the  presence 
of  several  politicians,  "  The  house  of  Orleans  will  have  ceased 
to  reign  in  France,  from  having  wished  to  reign  also  in  Spain. 
Before  two  years  there  will  be  a  revolution  at  Paris," 

XI. 

England  was  sure  then  to  see  without  pain  the  downfall  of 
a  dynasty  which,  after  having  long  flattered  it,  had  once  men- 
aced it  in  Eg^-pt,  and  another  time  deceived  it  in  Spain.  The 
republic  was  received  without  repugnance  at  London.  The 
statesmen  of  England  were  sufficiently  impartial,  sufficiently 
sensible,  and  sufficiently  versed  in  history,  to  comprehend  that 
fifty  years  of  revolution,  of  experience,  of  liberty,  and  of  pro- 
gress in  public  opinion,  would  place  between  the  new  republic 
and  the  republic  of  1793  the  difference  that  there  is  between 
reason  and  madness,  between  an  explosion  and  an  institution. 
A  nation  like  France  brings  into  its  revolution  only  what  it  has 
in  its  nature.  The  republic  of  the  24th  of  February  could  be 
only  the  France  of  the  day  past,  in  the  institutions  of  the 
morrow. 

Now  the  entire  question  of  peace  or  of  war  for  the  republic 
was  embraced  in  the  dispositions  of  England.  No  coalition  is 
possible  if  England  does  not  foment  it.  She  holds  the  conti- 
nent in  her  pay  from  the  instant  it  is  in  arms.  Without  Eng- 
land all  continental  war  is  but  partial ;  no  partial  war  can 
disquiet  France.  Peace,  then,  was  possible ;  but  that  it  might 
be  certain,  two  things  were  requisite,  —  to  respect  Belgium, 
whose  independenc  j  was  at  once  an  English  and  a  Prussian 
interest ;  and  to  respect  Germany,  v/hose  violation  would  have 


12  HISTORY    OF   THE 

armed  Austria  against  us,  in  alliance  with  England,  and  backed 
by  Russia. 

As  for  Spain,  the  fall  of  the  Orleans  dynasty  would  at  once 
render  both  France  and  England  disinterested  in  their  rival 
pretensions  beyond  the  Pyrenees. 

Italy  was  not  yet  in  commotion.  She  was  beginning  only 
to  demand  of  her  princes  the  first  degree  of  liberty  in  constitu- 
tional institutions,  and  the  first  degree  of  Italian  independence 
in  a  federal  union  of  their  separate  trunks  of  nationality. 

But  if  it  was  easy  for  statesmen  to  comprehend  this  situa- 
tion of  Europe,  and  this  happy  coincidence  of  the  republic  with 
the  circumstances  of  Europe,  which  permitted  the  preservation 
of  peace  on  the  continent,  it  was  more  difficult  to  make  a  young 
and  efTervescing  revolution,  of  only  a  k\v  days'  date,  compre- 
hend that  it  must  restrain  itself,  confine  itself  within  its  own 
domestic  interior,  and  thence  shine  upon  the  horizon  of  nations, 
without  at  the  instant  overflowing,  and  without  inflaming,  the 
other  states.  The  treaties  of  1S15  weighed  upon  the  recollec- 
tion of  France.  The  disasters  of  1813,  of  1814,  and  of  1815, 
had  accumulated,  like  remorseful  pangs  of  glory,  in  the  popular 
breast.  France,  essentially  military  as  it  is,  was  not  only 
weary  but  ashamed  of  peace.  The  revolution  seemed  to  open 
of  itself  the  gates  of  war  :  the  army  aspired  after  it ;  the  people 
sung  it ;  the  superabundance  of  the  idle  and  the  active  popula- 
tion furnished  a  motive  for  it ;  even  fraternity  in  behalf  of  the 
deliverance  of  oppressed  nations  seemed  to  hallow  it ;  the  hatred 
of  unreflecting  republicans  against  thrones  excited  a  passion  for 
it ;  violent  statesmen  hurled  it  from  their  lips  and  their  ges- 
tures to  the  multitude ;  in  fine,  empirical  statesmen  saw  in  war 
a  precious  expedient  to  seize,  in  order  to  retrench  the  revolu- 
tionary allies  aflibrded  by  the  population  of  cities,  in  order  to 
make  a  fortunate  diversion  from  internal  agitations,  and  in 
order  to  cast  upon  the  frontier  those  fire-brands  who  would 
destroy  each  other  at  home,  if  they  were  not  scattered  upon  the 
continent.  Revolutions,  it  was  said,  have  but  a  single  hour; 
they  must  be  seized  while  they  are  burning;  when  they  are 
expiring  they  can  be  put  out  with  the  foot.  Mad  revolutions 
have  indeed  but  a  single  hour,  was  the  reply  of  the  sensible 
partisans  of  peace  ;  but  revolutions  that  are  humane,  moderate, 
and  deliberate,  have  years  and  centuries  before  them :  they  do 
not  stake  the  fate  of  popular  liberty  and  progress  upon  the  tuDi 
of  a  card,  in  a  paroxysm  of  energy  that  is  too  often  immoral ; 
they  play  only  a  sure  game,  and  they  enlist  on  their  side  riglit, 
■•■eason,  the  justice  of  the  cause,  nations  and  God. 


K  EVOLUTION    OF    1848. 


13 


XII. 

Lamartine  was  convinced  of  these  truths ;  he  was,  moreover, 
convinced  that  if  France  made  the  first  attack,  this  aggression 
would  be  the  pretext  and  the  inevitable  signal  nf  a  coalition  of 
armies,  and  of  a  league  of  kings,  against  the  republic.  He  did 
not  doubt  that  the  accumulated  energy  of  France  would  for  a 
long  time  triumph  over  this  coalition ;  but  history  and  good 
sense  told  him  that  the  offensive  war  of  one  people  against 
others  ended,  sooner  or  later,  in  an  invasion,  even  when  this 
people  had  the  soldiers  of  Napoleon  for  an  army,  and  the  head 
of  Napoleon  to  lead  them.  The  republic,  by  bringing  about 
the  invasion  of  France,  retarded  liberty  for  fifty  years.  Besides 
—  and  this  was  his  chief  consideration  —  Lamartine  knew 
from  history  and  from  nature  that  every  war  of  one  single  na- 
tion against  all  others  is  an  extreme  and  desperate  war ;  that 
every  extreme  and  desperate  war  requires  from  the  people 
which  sustains  it  efforts  and  means  of  convulsion  as  extreme 
and  desperate  as  the  war  itself;  that  efforts  and  means  of  this 
nature  can  be  employed  only  by  a  government  also  extreme 
and  desperate ;  and  that  these  means  are  excessive  taxes  of 
gold  and  of  blood,  forced  loans,  a  paper  currency,  proscriptions, 
revolutionar}'  tribunals,  and  scaffolds.  To  inaugurate  the  re- 
public by  such  a  government,  was  to  inaugurate  tyranny  in 
place  of  liberty,  crime  in  place  of  public  virtue,  the  ruin  of  the 
people  in  place  of  their  salvation.  Lamartine  and  his  colleagues 
would  rather  have  sacrificed  their  heads  to  the  revolution  than 
to  have  shed  one  drop  of  blood. 

Lamartine  had,  moreover,  an  absolute  faith  in  the  power  of 
honor  and  right  in  politics.  He  knew  that  almost  all  wars 
were  only  expiations  of  international  injustice.  He  was  per- 
suaded that  the  justice  and  respect  of  the  republic  towards  its 
neighbors  would  be  for  France  two  armies  that  would  protect 
the  frontiers  better  than  two  millions  of  men,  and  would  propa 
gate  the  democratic  spirit  further  than  the  flash  of  cannon. 
France  is  loved  by  the  nations.  The  attraction  which  it  in- 
spires by  its  intelligence,  its  character,  and  its  genius,  is  one 
t  lement  of  its  great  influence  in  the  world.  France  disarmed 
i.s  still  the  object  of  universal  love.  To  change  this  national 
prestige  of  love  and  attraction  into  fear  and  into  dread  of  its 
arms,  is  to  disfigure  the  nation.  The  fear  that  it  inspires  for 
a  moment  is  not  worth  the  might  of  sympathy  wherewith  God 
has  armed  it. 

VOL.  II.  2 


14  HICTORY    OF   THE 

It  is  the  same  with  democracy,  which  was  about  to  make  a 
fresh  proof  of  the  power  of  moral  contagion  over  the  spirit  of 
nations.  Lamartine  had  a  just  presentiment  that  if  French 
democracy  were  aggressive,  and  that  if  it  allowed  itself,  from 
the  first  day,  to  be  changed  by  the  spirit  of  conquest,  or  to  be 
confounded  with  national  ambition,  it  would  repel  instead  of 
attracting.  The  principle  of  nationality  subdues  in  men  the 
principle  of  domestic  liberty.  Rather  than  lose  their  name  and 
their  soil,  nations  would  lose  their  liberal  institutions.  Thrones 
would  rally  them  against  France,  the  instant  that  sovereigns 
could  point  them  to  a  single  French  bayonet  invading  without 
right  their  territory.  Besides,  what  was  the  nature  of  the 
revolution  of  February?  Was  it  a  territorial  re\-olution,  or  a 
revolution  of  ideas  ?  It  was  evidently  a  revolution  of  ideas,  a 
question  of  internal  rule.  To  change  it  into  a  territorial,  mili- 
tary revolution  of  conquest,  was  to  enfeeble  it  in  its  principle, 
to  alter  and  to  betray  it.  A  hundred  leagues  of  soil  would  not 
have  enlarged  one  idea.  It  must  needs,  therefore,  be  declared 
fraternal  and  inoffensive  to  the  nations,  whatever  might  be  the 
government,  —  despotic,  monarchical,  mixed,  or  republican,  — 
of  those  nations. 

But  these  views  were  too  philosophical  to  penetrate  of  them- 
selves the  masses  in  revolt,  and  impatient  to  overrun  Europe, 
if  they  had  been  presented  only  by  the  voice  of  a  minister  of 
foreign  affairs  and  of  a  government.  They  were  fortunately 
seconded  by  the  influential  men  of  all  the  philosophical  parties, 
and  even  the  socialists,  to  whom  history  owes  this  justice,  that 
they  served  loyally  and  powerfully,  at  that  time,  the  ideas  of 
fraternity  and  of  peace.  The  workmen  themselves,  predisposed 
to  war  by  their  ardor  and  their  courage,  were  restored  by  their 
doctrines  and  their  theories  to  the  intelligence  and  the  morality 
of  peace.  The  idea  of  the  organization  of  labor  abated  in  the 
masses  the  idea  of  war.  Socialism  stifled  the  conquest.  The 
people  comprehended  reason. 

XIII. 

Before  submitting  these  views  to  the  provisional  government, 
Lamartine  wrote  to  all  the  diplomatic  agents  a  short  and  vague 
letter,  to  instruct  them  to  notify  the  different  courts  at  which 
they  resided  of  the  accession  of  the  French  republic. 

"  The  republic,"  said  he  to  these  agents,  "  has  not  changed 
the  place  of  France  in  Europe.  It  is  ready  to  resume  its  con* 
nections  with  other  nations." 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S48. 


15 


This  expression  was  inserted  in  the  first  communication,  as 
A  symptom  suited  to  reiissure  governments  and  people  respect- 
ing the  civilized  character  which  the  new  republic  wished  to 
give  to  foreign  policy.  Lamartine  collected  all  the  employes 
of  his  office.  ''  Reiissure  yourselves,"  said  he  to  them  ;  "  I  belong 
to  the  revolution,  but  to  a  paternal  revolution  ;  those  among  you 
who  wish  loyally  to  serve  the  republic  will  be  preserved  in  their 
functions.  The  country  has  not  disappeared  with  royalty.  The 
diplomatists  are  like  the  soldiers ;  they  have  for  their  rallying 
point  the  flag,  and  for  their  permanent  duty  the  defence  and 
greatness  of  the  nation  abroad." 

However,  a  revolution,  at  the  moment  when  it  is  being  ac- 
complished, cannot  confide  its  secrets  and  its  safety  to  those 
who  must  dread  it  and  fight  against  it  in  the  evening.  It  would 
betray  itself.  Lamartine  did  not  wish  to  break  the  mechanism 
or  disperse  the  individuals  who  composed  this  central  adminis- 
tration of  foreign  affairs,  which  time  had  organized,  and  which 
numbered  in  its  bosom  men  sure,  plausible,  experienced  and 
eminent.  He  left  them  at  their  posts,  inactive,  or  employed 
only  in  labors  of  simple  routine.  He  retired  to  his  private 
cabinet,  where  he  concentrated  in  himself  alone  the  whole  spirit, 
secret,  and  conduct,  of  the  diplomacy  of  the  republic. 

But  these  men,  so  much  the  more  patriotic  in  heart  as  they 
had  more  exclusively  applied  their  minds  to  the  permanent  in- 
terest of  the  country,  did  not  hesitate  to  adhere  with  all  their 
patriotism  to  the  republic,  as  the  representative  of  order  and  of 
France.  Those  even  who  had  retired  from  a  voluntary  scruple 
of  honor,  such  as  the  director  of  the  political  department,  M, 
Desages,  a  true  man,  gave  to  the  government  the  traditions 
and  intelligence  which  they  carried  with  them.  MM.  de  Viel 
Castel,  Brennier,  Cintra,  Lesseps,  remained  at  the  head  of  the 
diflferent  departments  of  labor.  They  rendered  to  the  govern- 
ment indefaticjable  services  during-  that  long-  confusion  of  events 
and  assaults  when  the  hotel  of  the  minister  was  at  once  a 
council  and  a  camp. 


XIV. 

On  the  ither  hand,  Lamartine  recalled  successively  from 
abroad  all  the  ambassadors,  and  nearly  all  the  ministers  pleni- 
potentiary. Their  presence  in  the  diflferent  courts  had  a  double 
inconvenience.  The  republic  was  not  recognized;  there  was 
danger  that  their  residence  near  undecided  or  hostile  govern- 


16  HISTORY   OF   THE 

ments  should  be  the  occasion  of  coolness,  injurious  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  new  relations.  Besides,  these  ambassadors  were 
generally  politicians,  old  ministers,  personally  attached  in  sen- 
timent and  regrets  to  the  fallen  royalty.  To  trust  them  with 
the  negotiations  of  the  republic,  at  the  very  moment  when  it 
was  struggling  against  royalty,  was  to  expose  it  to  being  badly 
served.  The  minister  sent,  in  place  of  these  official  agents, 
secret  or  confidential  agents,  chosen  from  among  men  of  repub- 
lican opinions,  or  who  were  without  relations  with  the  fugitive 
dynasty.  He  gave  to  each  of  them  verbal  instructions,  suited 
to  the  countries  to  which  he  sent  them.  These  instructions 
were  summed  up  in  these  words  :  Preserve,  inform,  and  give  in 
your  conversations  with  the  sovereigns,  ministers,  and  people, 
its  true  sense  to  the  new  republic ;  pacific,  if  they  comprehend 
it,  but  terrible,  if  they  insult  it. 

He  confided,  further,  to  each  of  these  foreign  agents  the  plan 
of  diplomacy  which  he  proposed  to  pursue,  in  order  that  each 
of  his  envoys,  in  the  necessary  vagueness  of  these  instructions, 
and  amidst  the  uncertain  and  sudden  incidents  of  their  mission, 
should  be  initiated  in  the  foreign  projects  of  the  republic,  and 
make  each  of  their  words  and  acts  accord  with  the  general  plan. 

To  wait  with  dignity  the  decision  of  England,  to  seek  the 
good-will  of  Prussia,  to  observe  Russia,  to  calm  Poland,  to  caress 
Germany,  to  avoid  Austria,  to  smile  upon  Italy  without  ex- 
citing her,  to  reassure  Turkey,  to  abandon  Spain  to  herself,  —  to 
deceive  no  one,  either  by  vain  fears  or  hopes,  not  to  speak  a 
word  which  they  would  afterwards  be  obliged  to  retract,  and 
to  make  republican  honesty  the  soul  of  a  diplomacy,  without 
ambition,  as  without  weakness,  —  such  were  these  confidential 
instructions,  by  which  Lamartine  desired  that  whatever  events 
might  occur,  the  republic  should  always  be  found  in  the  right. 

He  held  the  same  language  to  the  ambassadors,  ministers, 
and  charges  d'affaires,  who  represented  the  different  courts  at 
Paris.  The  rapidity  of  the  revolution,  the  enthusiasm  with 
which  it  was  unanimously  accepted  in  all  France,  without  a 
single  protesting  gesture  against  such  a  democracy ;  the  mag- 
nanimity of  the  people,  intrepid  in  action,  moderate,  clement, 
and  cordial,  after  their  victory;  the  spectacle  of  this  capital, 
where  seven  men  governed  thirty-six  millions  of  citizens  with 
only  the  reins  of  their  eloquence ;  the  abolition  of  the  penalty 
of  death  ;  the  repudiation  of  the  war-spirit;  the  order  volunta- 
rily reestablished  in  so  few  days  in  the  streets  ;  the  inviolability 
of  religion  ;  the  respect  for  strangers  j  the  adhesion  and  depu- 


REVOI  CTION   OF    1843.  17 

tations  from  all  the  departments,  all  the  communes,  and  all 
the  people  who  flowed  into  the  Hotel  de  Vilie,  like  constant 
expressions  of  public  opinion ;  their  firm  but  respectful  tone 
towards  nations  and  governments ;  the  speeches  by  which  La- 
martine  and  his  colleagues  replied  to  these  declarations  of  the 
people,  —  all  these  prodigies  had  made  a  powerful  and  happy- 
impression  upon  the  sight  and  minds  of  the  auilossadors. 
The  enthusiasm  for  France  had  gained  even  upon  the  enemies 
of  the  republic. 

These  diplomatists,  without  yet  recognizing  the  neAv  govern- 
ment, had  official  conversations  with  the  minister  of  foreign 
afiliirs.  The  umbrage  which  their  governments  might  have 
conceived  fell,  during  these  conversations,  where  heart  spoke 
to  heart,  between  men  who  equally  desired  to  avoid  misfor- 
tunes for  the  world  and  to  save  the  blood  of  humanity.  It 
was  fortunate  for  the  human  race  that  this  concert  of  good  in- 
tentions, intelligence  and  wisdom,  existed  between  the  provis- 
ional government  and  the  representatives  of  Europe  at  Paris, 
Lord  Normanby,  Ambassador  of  England ;  Baron  d'Arnim, 
Minister  of  Prussia;  M.  de  Kisselef,  Minister  of  Russia;  M. 
d'Apponi,  Minister  of  Austria  ;  M.  de  Brignole,  Minister  of 
Sardinia ;  the  Prince  of  Ligne,  Minister  of  Belgium ;  the 
Papal  Nuncio,  and  all  the  principal  members  of  the  diplomatic 
corps  at  Paris,  at  this  time,  were  fortunately  men  of  great  in- 
telligence, foresight,  and  of  peace.  The  character  of  statesmen 
may  have  as  much  influence  over  events  as  their  ideas.  Their 
character  is  the  commentary  of  their  instructions.  They  pre- 
dispose their  courts  to  justice  and  peace. 

Secret  but  kind  relations  were  thus  speedily  established  be- 
tween the  cabinet  of  Paris  and  foreign  cabinets. 

The  first  symptom  of  a  desire  to  establish  pacific  relations 
with  the  new  French  government  was  a  word  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  addressed  to  Lamartine,  in  reply  to  an  indirect  and 
verbal  overture,  which  Lamartine  had  made  through  a  nephew 
of  that  statesman.  Lamartine  replied  by  writing  to  this  mes- 
sage, as  was  proper,  and  praised  the  thought  of  peace  from  the 
lips  of  a  warrior.  The  first  impression  of  England,  expressed 
by  her  first  citizen,  was  an  augury  which  well  might  give  hope 
to  the  world ;  for  when  France  and  England  unite  to  preserve 
the  peace  (i  Europe,  no  power  can  disturb  it  with  impunity. 

VOL.  n.  2^ 


18 


HISTORY    OF    THE 


XV. 

It  was  France  that  had  just  been  agitated;  it  was  upon 
France  that  all  eyes  were  fixed ;  it  was  for  France  to  speak  the 
first.  Europe,  and  France  herself,  waited  with  anxiety  for 
this  first  address  of  the  republic  to  the  world.  It  was  prudent 
and  dignified  to  allow  them  to  wait  some  days.  The  repub- 
lic ought  not  to  hasten  towards  peace,  like  a  timid  power 
which  fears  war.  It  ought  to  declare  it  possible,  and  not  im- 
plore it  as  necessary.  It  should,  moreover,  assure  itself,  be- 
fore proflfering  terms  of  peace,  that  these  terms  should  not  be 
disavowed  with  insult  by  the  other  powers.  It  would  other- 
wise expose  itself  to  see  its  advances  towards  peaceful  rela- 
tions misconstructed.  It  would  have  to  receive,  instead  of  the 
sympathy  it  deserved,  the  defiance  which  it  would  be  obliged 
to  take  up  or  avenge.  Lamartine,  therefore,  was  in  no  haste. 
He  drafted  the  manifesto  of  the  republic  during  the  short  in- 
tervals of  the  night  which  the  tumults  in  the  public  square 
left  to  him.  He  submitted  it,  on  the  6th  of  March,  to  the  de- 
liberation of  his  colleagues,  the  ministers,  and  some  eminent 
politicians  of  republican  sentiments,  who  assisted  that  day  in 
the  deliberations. 

The  session  was  solemn.  Seven  men,  sprung  a  few  days 
before  from  a  tempest,  held  in  their  hands  peace  or  war.  With 
a  single  word  they  could  arm  and  bring  into  conflict  principles 
and  men  over  all  the  earth,  or  restore  serenity  to  the  horizon  of 
the  world.  Lamartine  was  determined  to  make  the  declaration 
of  peace  the  absolute  condition  of  his  presence  in  the  govern- 
ment. The  greater  part  of  his  colleagues,  as  well  as  the  min- 
isters, were  no  less  decided  than  he.  The  manifesto  was  not 
subject  to  discussion,  as  to  its  principles.  All  confined  them- 
selves to  some  contested  and  modified  expressions,  but  were 
almost  unanimously  agreed  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  re- 
public should  declare  its  interpretation  of  the  treaties  of  1S15. 
Louis  Blanc  himself  applauded  the  fraternal  era  opened  by 
this  manifesto  to  humanity.  The  concealed  and  impatient 
parties,  who  were  secretly  discontented  with  the  pacific  resolu- 
tion of  the  government,  thought  themselves  so  sure  that  these 
words  were  only  thrown  to  the  winds,  and  that  the  people 
would  soon,  of  their  own  accord,  make  an  irruption  upon  Eu- 
rope, that  they  took  no  pains  to  oppose  the  manifesto.  The 
Belgian,  Polish  and  German  conventicles  were  already  in  mo- 
tion round  some  secret  leaders,  and  were  prepared  to  tear  this 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848. 


19 


page  of  nalional  philosophy,  and  to  load  with  it  the  musket  of 
invasion. 

The  next  daj'  this  manifesto  appeared. 


MANIFESTO    TO   EUROPE. 

"  You  have  received  intelligence  of  the  events  at  Paris ;  of 
the  victory  of  the  people,  their  heroism,  moderation,  and  tran- 
quillity. Order  has  been  established  by  the  unanimous  con- 
currence of  the  citizens,  as  if,  during  this  interregnum  of  all 
visible  powers,  the  general  good  sense  of  the  community  alone 
sufficed  for  the  government  of  France. 

"  The  French  revolution  has  thus  just  reached  its  definite 
period.  France  is  a  Republic :  the  French  republic  does  not 
require  to  be  recognized  to  exist;  it  springs  from  a  natural 
right,  it  is  a  national  right.  It  is  the  will  of  a  great  nation, 
which  only  demands  its  title  from  itself.  The  French  repub- 
lic, however,  desiring  to  enter  into  the  family  of  the  already 
instituted  governments  as  a  regular  power,  and  not  as  a  phe- 
nomenon that  disturbs  European  order,  it  is  requisite  that  you 
should  promptly  inform  the  government  to  which  you  are  ac- 
credited of  the  principles  and  tendencies  which  will  henceforth 
direct  the  external  policy  of  the  French  government. 

"  The  proclamation  of  the  French  republic  is  not  an  act  of 
aggression  against  any  form  of  government  in  the  world. 
Forms  of  government  possess  a  diversity  as  legitimate  as  the 
diversity  of  character,  of  geographical  situation,  and  of  intel- 
lectual, moral,  and  material  development,  among  the  nations  : 
nations,  like  individuals,  have  their  different  ages;  the  princi- 
ples which  govern  them  have  successive  phases.  Monarchical, 
aristocratic,  constitutional,  and  republican  governments,  are  the 
expression  of  these  difTerent  degrees  of  maturity  in  the  genius 
of  the  people. 

"  They  demand  more  liberty  in  proportion  as  they  feel  them- 
selves more  capable  of  supporting  it ;  they  require  more  equal-[. 
ity  and  democracy  in  proportion  as  they  are  more  inspired] 
with  justice  and  love  of  the  people.  This  is  a  question  of' 
time.  A  people  lose  themselves  by  anticipating  this  maturity/, 
as  they  dishonor  themselves  by  allowing  it  to  escape  without 
seizing  it.  Monarchy  and  republicanism  are  not,  in  the  eyes 
of  true  statesmen,  absolute  principles,  which  mortally  oppose 
each  other ;  they  are  facts,  which  contrast  w-ith  each  other, 
and  which  may  exist  face  to  face,  mutually  comprehending  and 
respecting  each  other. 


20  HISTORY    OF    THE 

"  War,  then,  is  not  the  principle  of  the  French  revolution, 
as  it  became  its  glorious  and  fatal  necessity  in  1792.  Be- 
tween 1792  and  1848,  there  is  half  a  century.  To  return, 
after  half  a  century,  to  the  principles  of  1792,  or  to  the  princi- 
ple of  conquest  of  the  empire,  would  not  be  to  advance,  but 
to  retrograde,  with  regard  to  time.  The  revolution  of  yester- 
day is  a  step  in  advance,  not  in  retreat ;  we  desire  that  the 
world  and  ourselves  should  march  to  fraternity  and  to  peace. 

"  If  the  situation  of  the  French  republic  in  1792  explained 
the  necessity  of  war,  the  differences  which  exist  between  that 
epoch  of  our  history  and  the  one  in  which  we  now  are  ex- 
plain the  necessity  of  peace.  These  differences  you  must 
apply  yourself  to  comprehend,  and  to  make  them  understood 
around  you. 

"  In  1792,  the  nation  was  not  united.  Two  people  existed 
upon  the  same  territory.  A  terrible  struggle  was  still  pro- 
longed between  the  classes  dispossessed  of  their  privileges, 
and  those  which  had  just  conquered  equality  and  liberty.  The 
dispossessed  classes  united  with  captive  royalty,  and  with  the 
jealous  foreigner,  to  refuse  France  its  revolution,  and  again  to 
impose  monarchy,  aristocracy,  and  theocracy  upon  it,  by  inva- 
sion. There  are  now  no  longer  distinct  and  unequal  classes. 
Liberty  has  enfranchised  all.  Equality  has  levelled  every- 
thing in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  Fraternity,  the  application  of 
which  we  proclaim,  and  the  benefits  of  which  the  National 
Assembly  will  soon  organize,  is  about  to  unite  every  one. 
There  is  not  a  siijgle  citizen  in  France,  to  whatever  opinion  he 
may  belong,  who  does  not  rally  round  the  principle  of  the 
country  before  everything,  and  who  does  not  render  her,  by 
this  union  itself,  impregnable  against  the  attacks  and  alarms  of 
invasion. 

"  In  1792,  it  vvas  not  the  entire  people  who  had  entered  in- 
to possession  of  their  government :  it  was  the  middling  class 
only  who  desired  to  exercise  liberty  and  to  enjoy  it.  The  tri- 
umph of  the  middle  class  was  then  egotistical,  as  is  the  triumph 
of  every  oligarchy.  It  desired  to  retain  for  itself  alone  the 
rights  conquered  by  all.  It  behoved  it,  for  this  purpose,  to 
operate  a  grand  diversion  to  the  accession  of  the  people,  by 
precipitating  them  toward  the  field  of  battle,  to  prevent  them 
from  taking  possession  of  their  own  government.  This  diver- 
sion was  war.  War  was  the  idea  of  the  monarchists  and  of 
the  Girondists ;  it  was  not  that  of  the  more  enlightened  demo- 
crats, who  desired,  as  we  do,  the  sincere,  complete,  and  regulai 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S4S.  21 

reign  of  the  people  themselves,  comprehending,  under  t'nat 
name,  all  classes,  without  exclusion  and  without  prefeuince, 
of  which  the  nation  is  composed. 

"  In  1792,  the  people  were  but  the  instruments  of  the  revo- 
lution, they  were  not  its  object.  To-day  the  revolution  hao 
been  effected  by  the  people  and  for  them.  In  entering  into  it, 
they  bring  to  it  their  new  cares  of  labor,  industry,  instruction, 
agriculture,  commerce,  morality,  comfort,  property,  cheap  liv- 
ing, navigation,  and  lastly,  of  civilization,  which  are  all  the 
necessities  of  peace  !  The  people  and  peace  are  one  and  the 
same  word. 

"In  1792,  the  ideas  of  France  and  of  Europe  were  not  pre- 
pared to  comprehend,  and  to  accept,  the  grand  harmony  of 
nations  between  themselves,  as  a  benefit  to  the  human  race. 
The  thought  of  the  past  age  existed  only  in  the  heads  of  a 
few  philosophers.  To-day  philosophy  is  popular.  Fifty  years 
of  liberty  to  think,  to  speak,  and  to  write,  have  produced  their 
result.  Books,  journals,  and  legislative  discussions,  have  per- 
formed the  apostleship  of  European  intelligence.  Reason, 
shining  everywhere,  beyond  the  limits  of  nations,  has  credited 
among  their  minds  this  grand  intellectual  nationality,  which 
will  be  the  consummation  of  the  French  revolution,  and  the 
constitution  of  international  fraternity  all  over  the  globe. 

"  Lastly,  in  1792,  liberty  was  a  novelty,  equality  a  scandal, 
and  the  republic  a  problem.  The  rights  of  the  people,  scarcely 
discovered  by  F«^ntlon,  Montesquieu,  and  Rousseau,  were 
so  forgotten,  hidden,  and  profaned,  by  the  old  feudal  dy- 
nasty and  sacerdotal  traditions,  that  the  most  legitimate  inter- 
ference of  the  people  in  their  affairs  appeared  monstrous  to 
statesmen  of  the  old  school.  Democracy  made  thrones  and 
the  foundations  of  societies  tremble  at  the  same  time.  To-day 
thrones  and  nations  are  accustomed  to  the  motto,  to  the  forms, 
and  to  the  regular  agitations  of  liberty,  exercised  in  diverse 
proportion  in  almost  all  states,  even  in  those  which  are  mo- 
narchical. They  will  habituate  themselves  to  the  republic 
which  is  its  complete  form  among  more  matured  nations 
They  will  recognize  that  there  is  a  conserv'ative  liberty;  they 
will  acknowledge  that  there  can  be  found  in  the  republic,  not 
only  better  order,  but  more  true  order  in  this  government  of  all 
for  all  than  in  the  government  of  a  few  for  a  few. 

"  But,  exclusive  of  these  disinterested  considerations,  the  in- 
terest alone  of  the  consolidation  and  the  duration  of  the  republic 
would  inspire  tie  statesmen  of  France  with  thoughts  of  peace 


23  HISTORY    OF    THE 

It  IS  not  the  country  which  runs  the  greate  St  clanger  in  war ;  it 
is  liberty.  War  is  ahnost  always  a  dictatorship ;  —  soldiers 
forget  institutions  for  men  ;  —  thrones  tempt  the  ambitious ;  — 
glory  dazzles  patriotism.  The  prestige  of  a  glorious  name  veils 
the  design  upon  national  sovereignty ;  the  republic  doubtless 
desires  glory,  but  she  desires  it  for  herself,  and  not  for  Ceesars, 
or  Napoleons, 

"Do  not,  however,  deceive  yourself;  these  ideas  which 
the  provisional  government  charge  you  to  present  to  the  pow- 
ers, as  a  pledge  for  European  security,  have  not  for  their  object 
to  obtain  the  pardon  of  the  republic  for  its  audacity  in  daring 
to  spring  to  life ;  still  less  to  sue  humbly  for  the  position  of  a 
great  right  and  a  great  people  in  Europe  :  they  have  a  far  more 
noble  object:  —  to  make  sovereigns  and  nations  reflect — to  pre- 
vent them  from  involuntarily  deceiving  themselves  as  to  the 
character  of  our  revolution;  to  bestow  true  light  and  a  just 
appearance  upon  the  event ;  to  give,  in  short,  some  pledges  to 
humanity,  before  giving  them  to  our  rights  and  our  honor,  if 
they  were  misunderstood,  or  menaced. 

"  The  French  republic,  then,  will  not  provoke  war  with  any 
one;  it  has  no  need  to  say  that  it  will  accept  it,  should  condi- 
tions of  war  be  imposed  upon  the  French  people.  The  idea  of 
the  men  who  govern  France  at  present  is  this  :  —  that  France 
will  be  fortunate,  if  war  should  be  declared  against  her,  and  if 
she  be  thus  constrained  to  increase  in  power  and  glory,  in  spite 
of  her  moderation  !  A  terrible  responsibihty  for  France,  if  the 
republic  itself  declares  war  without  being  provoked  to  it !  In 
the  first  case,  her  martial  genius,  her  impatience  of  action,  and 
her  force,  that  has  been  augmented  by  so  many  years  of  peace, 
would  render  her  invincible  at  home,  dreaded,  perhaps,  beyond 
her  frontiers.  In  the  second  case,  she  would  turn  against  her- 
self the  remembrance  of  her  conquests,  which  alienates  the 
affections  of  nations,  and  compromises  her  first  and  most  uni- 
versal alliance  —  the  spirit  of  the  people  and  the  genius  of 
civihzation. 

"  After  these  principles.  Monsieur,  which  are  the  principles 
of  France,  upon  calm  reflection — principles  which  she  can 
present  without  fear  and  without  defiance  to  her  friends  and  to 
her  enemies  —  you  will  do  weU  to  impress  on  your  mind  the 
following  declarations  :  — 

"  The  treaties  of  1815  no  longer  exist  as  a  right  in  the  eyes 
of  the  French  republic ;  nevertheless,  the  territorial  limits  of 
these  treaties  form  a  fact  which  she  admits  as  a  basis,  and  as  a 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  23 

point  of  departure  in  her  relations  with  other  nations.  But  if 
the  treaties  of  1815  exist  no  longer,  save  as  facts  to  be  modified 
by  general  agreement,  and  if  the  republic  openlj^  declares  that 
it  has  the  right  and  mission  to  attain  regularly  and  pacifically 
these  modifications,  the  good  sense,  the  moderation,  the  con- 
science, and  the  prudence  of  the  republic  exist,  and  are  for 
Europe  a  better  and  more  honorable  guarantee  than  the  letters 
of  those  treaties  which  it  has  so  often  violated  or  modified. 

"  Endeavor,  Monsieur,  to  cause  this  emancipation  of  the 
republic  from  the  treaties  of  1S15  to  be  comprehended  and 
admitted  in  good  faith,  and  to  show  that  this  frank  declaration 
possesses  nothing  inimical  to  the  repose  of  Europe. 

"Thus,  we  openly  declare:  —  If  the  hour  of  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  certain  oppressed  nations  in  Europe,  or  elsewhere,  should 
appear  to  us  to  have  sounded  in  the  decrees  of  Providence ;  if 
Switzerland,  our  faithful  ally  since  the  time  of  Francis  I.,  were 
constrained  or  threatened  in  the  movement  of  aggrandizement, 
which  she  is  forming  at  home,  to  lend  further  power  to  the 
fasces  of  democratic  governments ;  if  the  independent  states  of 
Italy  were  invaded ;  if  limits  or  obstacles  were  imposed  upon 
their  interior  changes;  if  the  right  of  uniting  among  themselves 
to  consolidate  an  Italian  country  were  contested  by  an  armed 
hand  —  the  French  republic  would  conceive  itself  entitled  to 
arm  itself  to  protect  these  legitimate  movements  of  augmenta- 
tion, and  of  nationality  among  the  nations.  The  republic,  you 
see,  has  passed,  at  the  first  step,  the  era  of  proscriptions  and 
dictatorships.  It  has  resolved  never  to  conceal  liberty  at  home. 
It  has  equally  resolved  never  to  veil  its  democratic  principle 
abroad.  It  will  allow  no  one  to  interfere  between  the  pacific 
halo  of  its  liberty  and  the  regard  of  nations.  It  proclaims  itself 
the  intellectual  and  cordial  ally  of  all  the  rights,  of  all  the  pro- 
gress, and  of  all  the  legitimate  developments  of  the  institutions 
of  nations  who  desire  to  live  under  the  same  principle  as  its 
own.  It  will  make  no  secret  propagation  or  incendiarism 
among  its  neighbors.  It  knows  that  no  liberty  is  durable,  save 
that  which  is  born  upon  its  own  grounds.  But  it  will  exercise, 
by  the  light  of  its  ideas,  and  by  the  spectacle  of  the  order  and 
peace  which  it  hopes  to  display  to  the  world,  the  sole  and  honest 
proselytism  —  the  proselytism  of  esteem  and  sympathy.  This  is 
notwar;  it  isnatur?.  It  is  not  the  agitation  of  Europe;  it  is  life. 
It  is  not  inflaming  the  world ;  it  is  shining  from  its  place  upon  the 
horizon  of  nations,  at  once  to  precede  and  to  guide  them. 

"  We  desire,  for  the  sake  of  humanity,  that  peace  should  be 


S4  HISTORY    OF    THE 

preserved.  We  hope  it  also.  One  single  question  of  war  had 
been  agitated,  a  year  ago,  between  France  and  England.  It 
was  not  republican  France  which  started  this  warlike  question; 
it  was  the  dynasty.  That  dynasty  bears  with  it  that  danger 
of  war  which  it  had  occasioned  in  Europe,  by  the  wholly  per- 
sonal ambition  of  its  family  alliances  in  Spain.  Thus  this 
domestic  policy  of  the  fallen  dynasty,  which  weighed  for  seven- 
teen years  upon  our  national  dignity,  weighed  down,  at  the 
same  time,  by  its  pretensions  to  another  crown  at  Madrid,  our 
liberal  alliances  and  peace.  The  republic  has  no  ambition. 
The  republic  has  no  nepotism.  It  does  not  inherit  the  preten- 
sions of  a  family.  Let  Spain  govern  itself;  let  Spain  be  inde- 
pendent and  free.  France,  for  the  solidity  of  this  natural  alli- 
ance, relies  more  upon  the  conformity  of  principles  than  upon 
the  successions  of  the  house  of  Bourbon  ! 

"  Such  is.  Monsieur,  the  spirit  of  the  council  of  the  republic. 
Such  will  invariably  be  the  character  of  the  frank,  firm,  and 
moderate  policy  which  you  will  have  to  represent. 

"  The  republic  pronounced  at  its  birth,  and  in  the  midst  of 
the  heat  of  a  contest  not  provoked  by  the  people,  three  words, 
which  have  revealed  its  soul,  and  which  will  invoke  upon  its 
cradle  the  benedictions  of  God  and  of  man  —  Liberty,  Equality, 
and  Fraternity.  She  gave,  on  the  following  day,  by  the  aboli- 
tion of  death-penalty  in  political  matters,  the  true  commentary 
of  these  three  words  at  home.  Give  them  also  their  true  com- 
mentary abroad.  The  sense  of  these  three  words,  applied  to 
our  exterior  relations,  is  this :  the  enfranchisement  of  France 
from  the  chains  which  confined  her  principles  and  dignity  ;  the 
recovery  of  the  rank  which  she  ought  to  occupy  in  the  scale  of 
the  great  European  powers;  and,  lastly,  the  declaration  of  alli- 
ance and  friendship  with  all  nations.  If  France  has  the  con- 
sciousness of  her  part  in  the  liberal  and  civilizing  mission  of 
the  age,  there  is  not  one  of  these  words  which  signifies  war. 
If  Europe  be  prudent  and  just,  there  is  not  one  word  which 
does  not  betoken  peace.  Lamartine." 

XVI. 

This  manifesto  was  received  by  all  France  with  applause, 
by  Europe  with  respect.  It  gave  to  the  republic  its  attitude, 
to  democracy  its  voice,  to  war  its  signification  if  it  must  arise, 
to  peace  its  dignity  if  it  must  subsist.  It  made  the  democracy 
a  portion,  unlike  Vit  integral,  of  the  European  system,  which, 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848. 


25 


without  violently  menacing  governments  founded  on  another 
principle,  would  rally  successively  to  the  French  principle  those 
nations  which  had  arrived  at  different  degrees  of  liberty.  It 
was  the  reason  of  the  revolution  taking  and  defining  its  posi- 
tion in  the  face  of  the  world,  instead  of  its  madness  convulsing 
Europe  in  1793.  The  manifesto  did  not  create  a  single  case 
of  war  beyond  the  rights  of  nations.  It  abolished  several.  It 
abolished,  above  all,  ambition  and  conquests. 

The  effect  that  Lamartine  anticipated  from  this  attitude,  and 
the  results  that  he  had  promised  to  the  government,  were  not 
slow  in  being  developed  throughout  Europe.  We  shall  soon 
review  them. 


XVII. 

But  this  diplomatic  attitude  of  the  government  required  an 
armed  attitude  corresponding  to  the  contingencies  which  might 
ensue.  The  minister  of  foreign  affairs  asked  for  armaments  of 
safety  proportioned  to  the  possible  dangers  or  precautions  ren- 
dered imperative  by  his  position. 

Spain  did  not  yet  explain  herself.  Secret  informations  dis- 
closed far  from  friendly  dispositions  at  Madrid.  Musters  of 
troops  on  the  other  side  of  the  Pyrenees  were  mentioned. 
The  recent  marriage  of  the  Duke  of  Montpensier  with  the 
Queen  of  Spain's  sister  must  have  established  an  interest  and 
intimacy  between  the  proscribed  dynasty  of  France  and  the 
Spanish  government,  which  might  be  changed  to  hostilities. 
It  was  announced  that  the  princes  of  the  house  of  Orleans 
would  seek  refuge  in  Spain.  Their  presence  indicated  some 
confused  ideas  of  an  armed  restoration  from  that  quarter.  The 
ini«ister  demanded  the  immediate  formation  of  an  army  of 
observation  for  the  Pyrenees,  consisting  of  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  thousand  men.     This  army  was  decreed. 

Italy,  already  agitated  at  its  extremity  by  the  revolution  of 
Naples,  which  had  preceded  that  of  Paris,  would  probably  feel 
the  recoil  of  the  republic.  The  Pope,  by  his  words  and  acts, 
had  awakened  the  spirit  of  independence,  and  hatred  to  Aus- 
tria. This  well-meaning,  but,  at  the  same  time,  rash  and 
timid  pontiff,  already  found  difficulty  in  restraining  the  move- 
ment he  had  sanctioned.  He  only  wished  to  warm  the  torpid 
body  of  central  Italy.  He  had  thrown  in  a  spark,  and  the 
breath  which  the  events  in  Paris  unloosed  upon  the  world 
was  about  to  fan  the  flame  the  Pope  himself  had  kindled. 

VOL.  II.  3 


26  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Tuscany  would  inevitably  feel  the  influence.  Althougli  free 
and  happy,  in  fact,  under  the  municipal  and  paternal  govern- 
ment of  the  descendant  of  Leopold,  she  would  wish  to  change 
this  fact  into  right,  and  these  habits  of  liberty  into  institutions. 

Venice  and  Genoa  thrilled  at  the  name  of  republic,  which 
recalled  to  them  their  former  glory. 

Finally,  Piedmont,  the  only  military  power  of  Italy,  had 
been,  for  a  long  time,  prepared  for  war.  The  ambition  of 
her  king  dreamed  of  two  titles  —  that  of  the  liberator,  and 
that  of  the  protector  of  Italy.  Fluctuating  for  two  years 
between  the  Austrian  alliance,  which  made  him  a  satellite  of 
servitude,  and  the  French  alliance,  which  would  make  him  a 
ruler  of  the  peninsula ;  drawn  in  one  direction  by  the  sacer- 
dotal influence,  which  had  made  him  the  proscriber  and  jailer 
of  liberalism,  and,  in  another,  by  the  liberal  spirit  of  his  people, 
which  sought  to  make  him  a  pioneer  and  a  constitutional  prince, 
—  to  what  side  would  he  incline  ?  If  he  declared  himself  hos- 
tile to  the  republic,  and  was  willing  to  make  his  army  of  a  hun- 
dred thousand  men  a  vanguard  of  Austria  against  us,  it  would 
be  necessary  to  watch  him  at  the  gates  of  Savoy  and  the  shore 
of  the  Alps.  If  he  wished  himself  to  raise  the  standard  of 
Italian  independence,  it  would  be  necessary  to  provide  equally 
against  his  defeat  or  his  victory.  One  or  the  other  might 
equally  draw  us  involuntarily  into  Italy.  An  army  of  observa- 
tion, called  the  army  of  the  Alps,  ready  for  every  contingency, 
whether  to  cover  the  Alps,  from  the  Var  to  Grenoble,  or  to 
pass  beyond  them,  was  demanded  by  the  prudence,  as  well  as 
by  the  energy,  of  the  republic.  The  minister  asked  for  the 
immediate  formation  of  this  army  of  sixty-two  thousand  men. 
The  government  did  not  hesitate. 

The  presence  of  this  army  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps,  and  in 
the  valley  of  the  Rhone,  had  also  its  internal  motive. 

The  republic  might  be  menaced,  either  by  attempts  at  mo- 
narchical restoration,  for  the  benefit  of  the  elder  branch  of 
the  Bourbons  in  the  south  ;  or  by  detachments  from  the  army 
of  Algiers,  led  by  their  affection  for  the  princes,  and  landing 
with  them  upon  the  southern  shores ;  or  by  the  anarchical 
agitations  by  which  Toulon.  Marseilles,  Avignon,  and  Aries, 
cities  of  the  south,  had  saddened  the  first  republic;  or,  finally, 
and  particularly,  by  socialist  movements,  similar  to  those  which 
had  broken  forth  in  the  capital  of  industry,  at  Lyons,  in  1830 
and  1S32.     An    armed,  movable,  disciplined,  and    imposing 


RESOLUTION    OF    1843. 


27 


force  would  thus   present  an  external  and    internal  front  at 
once. 

Finally,  he  asked  for  an  army  of  a  hundred  thousand  men, 
distributed  on  the  Rhine,  and  destined  to  observe  German}^ 
and  to  be  connected  with  a  northern  army  of  thirty  thousand 
men,  to  cover  or  cross  our  frontiers,  according  as  the  move- 
ments of  Belgium,  Prussia,  or  Austria,  should  call  for  precau- 
tion or  for  action  on  our  part. 


XVIII. 

The  provisional  government  adopted  all  these  measures. 
On  the  3d  of  March,  it  created  a  committee  of  defence,  com- 
posed of  the  most  eminent  generals,  without  distinction  of 
opinion.  The  French  army  was  above  suspicion.  The  senti- 
ment of  gratitude,  which  some  of  its  chiefs  might  retain  to- 
wards the  princes,  was  extinguished  by  the  sentiment  of  pa- 
triotism. The  government  did  not  ask  them  if  they  were 
republicans.     It  knew  that  they  were  Frenchmen. 

Marshal  Bugeaud  had  written,  after  the  first  days,  to  La- 
martine,  in  terms  worthy  of  his  character  and  rank,  to  give  in 
his  adhesion  to  the  republic.  Lamartine  answered  him,  that 
the  republic  was  France;  that  she  was  proud  and  strong  in  all 
her  children  ;  that  she  hoped  to  have  no  occasion  of  drawing 
the  sword,  but,  if  it  were  drawn  on  her,  she  would  confide  the 
most  important  point,  that  is,  the  Rhine,  to  a  general  whose 
name,  braver)',  and  talents,  were  dear  to  the  army,  and  im- 
posing to  Europe.  The  marshal  felt  that  his  share  in  the 
existing  government  could  only  be  justified  by  war.  The  re- 
cent attachment  he  had  shov/n  to  banished  royalty,  the  services 
he  had  rendered  it,  the  military  frankness  of  his  regrets,  finally, 
the  susceptibility  of  the  people,  and  the  reserve  imposed  on 
the  government  itself,  counselled  Marshal  Bugeaud  to  a  tem- 
porary absence,  until  the  time  when  the  republic,  ratified  by 
the  General  Assembly,  would  no  longer  offer  an  inducement  to 
a  general  to  play  the  discreditable  part  of  Monk.  But  Gen- 
eral Lamoriciere  General  Oudinot,  and  General  Bedeau,  Avere 
summoned  to  this  committee  of  the  government.  These  three 
generals  had  not  hesitated  a  moment  to  rally  round  the  repub- 
lic, after  having  satisfied  the  claims  of  their  honor  in  their 
duty  to  royalty. 

The  government  were  frequently  present  at  the  deliberations 
of  this  committee  of  war,  to  impress  on  it  their  ideas,  inspira- 


28 


HISTORY    OF   THE 


tions  and  energy.  Lamartine's  opinion  was,  that  they  should 
instantly  recall  forty  or  fifty  thousand  men  from  the  army  of  Af- 
rica, which  then  amounted  to  a  hundred  thousand.  He  thought 
that  a  hundred  thousand  men  in  Africa,  to  protect  an  almost 
uninhabited  colony  against  a  few  tribes  without  chief,  govern- 
ment or  army,  was  at  least  a  useless  and  burthensome  luxury, 
at  the  period  of  a  European  crisis  ;  that  fifty  thousand  men 
would  be  enough  to  guard  this  colony ;  that  if  we  had  a  war 
with  England,  these  hundred  thousand  men,  cut  off  from  their 
mother  country,  would  end  as  the  army  of  Egypt  ended,  after 
Bonaparte  ;  that  if  we  had  peace,  still  this  armed  peace  upon 
the  continent  would  impose  on  the  treasury  the  weight  of 
fifty  thousand  soldiers,  who  must  be  raised,  armed  and  equipped, 
to  supply  the  place  of  the  fifty  thousand  men  whose  return  he 
demanded;  and  lastly,  that  he  thought  that  the  troops  of  Afri- 
ca, already  disciplined,  and  inured  to  war,  would  be  worth 
double  the  number  of  young  soldiers,  or  new  recruits,  on  the 
Alps  or  Rhine. 
i  The  African  generals  opposed  an  invincible  resistance  to  this 

reduction  of  our  active  forces  in  Algeria.  Lamartine  was  irri- 
tated at  a  predilection  which  appeared  to  him  a  systematic 
paralysis  of  a  portion  of  the  forces  which  prudence  and  policy 
ought  to  concentrate  on  the  very  soil  of  tlie  republic.  A  battle 
in  Belgium,  on  the  Rhine,  or  in  Piedmont,  lost  through  the 
absence  of  fifty  thousand  men,  would  destroy  the  republic.  A 
few  more  or  less  fortunate  skirmishes  in  Algeria  would  only 
lose  a  desert,  readily  reconquered  after  peace.  Obstinate  dis- 
cussions were  renewed  and  prolonged.  Sharp  words  and  ob- 
jections were  exchanged  betweer.  General  Lamoriciere  and 
Lamartine.  At  that  time,  Lamartine  distrusted  this  young 
g-eneral.  He  suspected  not  his  sincerity,  but  his  connections. 
He  believed  he  was  intimately  associated  with  the  party  the 
most  implacable  in  its  resentment  to  the  revolution.  He  saw 
afterwards  that  he  was  mistaken,  and  this  general,  as  brave 
in  action  as  capable  in  council,  spared  his  blood  no  more  than 
his  word  or  popularity  for  the  safety  of  the  government. 

_  General  Bedeau,  and  General  Oudinot,  both  worthy  of  the 
highest  commands,  at  that  time  attempted  to  justify  their 
brothers  in  arras,  and  to  destroy  the  unjust  doubts  which  in- 
fected Lamartine's  mind.  The  government,  partly  satisfying 
the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  decreed  that  twenty  thousand 
men  at  first,  afterwards  ten  thousand,  should  be  recalled  from 
Algiers,  and  repkced  on  the  African  soil  by  soldiers  of  the  new 
levies. 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  29 

The  minister  of  war,  General  Subervie,  was  president  of 
this  committee  of  national  defence.  A  young  colonel  of  the 
staff,  M.  Charras,  was  the  secretary.  The  measures  of  this 
committee  were  not  only  accepted,  but  elicited  and  urged  with 
an  ardor  which  resembled  impatience,  by  the  unanimity  of 
government.  The  reorganization  of  our  forces  was  pressing. 
Algeria  had  absorbed  everything ;  the  preceding  government 
was  constructed  for  peace.  We  do  not  bring  it  as  an  accusa- 
tion. The  republic,  at  its  birth,  had  to  reconstruct  military 
France,  in  the  twofold  forethought  of  peace  and  war.  That 
she  might  be  at  once  erect,  like  France  in  1792,  and  laborious, 
like  France  in  1847,  it  was  necessary  that  her  active  and  paid 
force  should  be  only  the  vanguard  of  her  armed  population. 
With  this  view,  Lamartine  alreadj^  suggested  the  creation  of 
three  hundred  battalions  of  Mobile  Guards,  in  the  departments, 
enrolled,  disciplined,  and  armed,  in  their  homes,  and  ready  to 
act  as  a  reserve  on  our  frontiers,  or  as  the  moderating  force  of 
the  republic  within.  He  finally  realized  this  idea  at  a  later 
date.  Voted  by  the  National  Assembly,  and  for  the  time  aban- 
doned by  the  governments  which  succeeded  the  provisional 
government,  this  project  would  have  given  the  republic  a  force 
of  order  everywhere  present  within,  a  defensive  force  promptly 
active  without.  It  would  be,  in  the  opinion  of  Lamartine,  a 
perpetual  confederation  of  the  departments,  of  property  and 
societ}^  against  anti-social  factions  and  anti-French  coalitions. 

XIX. 

The  army,  on  the  first  of  March,  consisted,  as  registered, 
of  three  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  men,  of  whom  ninety 
thousand  were  in  Algeria,  without  counting  the  native  forces. 
The  number  of  fighting  men  was  not  less  than  three  hundred 
and  thirty-six  thousand,  of  whom  eighty-two  thousand  were 
in  Algeria.  This  number  seemed  sufficient  for  the  purely  con- 
tingent necessities  of  a  government  which  was  resolved  not 
to  assume  offensive  operations.  But  when  the  government 
asked  the  generals  on  what  active  forces  they  could  immedi- 
atelj''  rely,  either  for  a  campaign  on  the  Rhine  or  an  expedition 
beyond  the  Alps,  tie  number  was  so  reduced  by  garrisons,  the 
defence  of  the  coast  and  the  colonies,  and  in  efficient  men, 
that  the  minister  of  foreiarn  affairs  and  his  colleaofues  trembled 
at  the  impotence  of  the  country,  should  they  be  surprised  by 
accidents.     To  gain  time,  whatever  the  partisans  of  aggressive 

VOL.  II,  3* 


30  HISTORY    OF   THE 

warfare  might  say,  would  therefore  be  to  gain  strength.  It 
would  save  at  once  the  blood  of  France  and  tie  destinies  of 
the  republic. 

The  government,  while  gaining  time  against  Europe,  did  not 
suffer  it  to  slip  away.  They  resolved  to  raise  the  army  to  five 
hundred  and  eighty  thousand  men.  All  their  orders,  all  their 
appeals,  all  their  purchases  of  horses,  all  the  vigils  of  the  two 
ministers  of  war  who  followed  each  other.  General  Subervie 
and  M.  Arago,  tended  to  this  amount.  Every  week  and  month 
brought  us  near  to  it.  On  the  1st  of  April,  we  reckoned  three 
hundred  and  thirty-eight  thousand  fighting  men ;  the  1st  of 
May,  three  hundred  and  forty-eight  thousand  ;  the  1st  of  June, 
four  hundred  thousand.  The  measures  decreed  by  government, 
and  executed,  as  fast  as  possible,  by  M.  Arago,  M.  Charras, 
General  Cavaignac,  and  General  Lamoriciere,  carried  this 
amount,  before  the  end  of  the  year,  to  beyond  five  hundred 
thousand  men.  The  number  of  horses,  which  was  forty-six 
thousand  on  the  1st  of  March,  was  sixty  thousand  in  July,  and 
seventy-five  thousand  in  November.  The  Mobile  and  Republi- 
can Guard,  a  corps  of  circumstance,  got  up  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment,  armed,  disciplined,  and  of  extraordinary  intrepidity, 
mounted  and  equipped,  in  Paris,  consisted  of  twenty  thousand 
men,  who  came  out  of  the  streets  excellent  soldiers,  created  by 
popular  emotions. 

General  Duvivier,  a  philosophic  and  republican  soldier,  had 
been  intrusted  by  the  government  with  the  organization  and 
command  of  this  Mobile  Guard.  Never  had  general  been  re- 
quired to  form  an  army,  to  preserve  order  in  a  revolutionary 
capital,  out  of  more  confused,  intangible  and  turbulent  elements. 
Never  in  so  short  a  time,  so  few  weeks,  was  a  more  difiicult 
task  more  marvellously  accomplished.  His  battalions,  com- 
posed principally  of  the  sons  of  the  people  of  Paris,  came  out 
of  his  hands,  every  hour,  still  in  rags,  but  already  soldiers. 
General  Duvivier  received  them  from  sympathy ;  the  government 
from  confidence.  They  saved  Paris  daily  from  itself.  Paris 
admired  and  adored  them.  They  were  the  heroic  pupils  of  the 
republic,  a,id  later,  the  heroes  and  saviors  of  social  order. 
Their  generals,  Duvivier  and  Damesme,  died  at  their  head. 
They  alone  sustained  the  weight  of  the  three  first  months  of 
sedition,  everywhere  repressed  or  restrained.  They  made  a 
rampart  of  their  battalions,  for  the  government,  on  the  16th 
of  April.  They  surrounded  the  Assembly  on  its  arrival.  They 
reconquered  it  on  the  15th  of  May,  with  the  National  Guard. 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843. 


31 


They  lavished  their  blood  for  it  on  the  23d  of  June.  They 
reopened  the  gates  of  Paris  to  the  army,  and  prided  them- 
selves on  subordination  to  their  elders  in  the  family  of  camps. 
They  deserved  to  be  adopted  by  the  National  Assembly,  instead 
of  being  subjected  to  dispersion  and  oblivion.  But  if  the  mo- 
ment is  forgetful,  history  remembers.  The  page  of  the  Garde 
Mobile  will  be  inscribed  with  its  services,  and  written  with 
drops  of  its  blood. 

XX. 

"While  General  Subervie,  General  Duvivier,  and  the  gen- 
erals of  the  committee  of  defence,  were  thus  seconding  the  efforts 
of  the  government  to  reorganize  our  land-forces,  M.  Arago, 
whose  name  flattered  the  pride  of  the  navy,  was  maintaining 
with  a  firm  hand  the  discipline  of  our  fleets ;  was  fortifying 
our  squadrons,  armmg  our  ports,  yielding  the  unreserved  con- 
fidence of  government  to  all  the  officers  of  this  choice  army, 
whose  honor  guaranteed  their  fidelity  to  the  republic.  With 
views  at  once  patriotic  and  pacific,  he  caused  the  flag  of  our 
vessels  to  float  over  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean. 


XXI. 

But  such  great  developments  given  to  our  national  forces,  in 
order  to  prevent  all  surprise  on  land  and  on  sea,  all  hazard  of 
invasion,  and  all  insult  to  the  republic,  required  correspondent 
efforts  on  the  part  of  the  treasury. 

The  government  had  found  the  finances  in  a  situation  which 
would  have  been  heavy  already,  in  ordinary  times,  and  which 
would  have  rendered  necessary,  before  a  few  months,  a  loan  of 
six  millions.  A  loan  exacts  credit.  Eevolutions  are  the 
eclipses  of  credit,  because  they  terrify,  not  only  interests,  but 
imaginations ;  imaginations  terrified,  tighten  the  hands  which 
hold  the  gold  in  an  industrial  nation.  The  prudent  men  of 
the  government  were  preoccupied,  before  all,  with  the  financial 
question.  They  knew  that  every  revolution  would  be  charac- 
terized by  violence  or  by  moderation,  according  to  the  first 
financial  measures  which  should  be  adopted  by  government,  at 
the  outset. 

They  declared  openly  that  there  were  only  two  means  of 
enabling  the  republic  to  pass  this  abyss  of  an  unforeseen  revolu- 
tion, without  precipitating  into  it  the  public  fortune;  a  dictator- 
ship, armed  with  the  instrument  of  punishment,  or  credit. 


32  HISTORY   OF   THE 

A  dictatorship,  armed  with  the  instrument  ov.  punishment, 
might  make  bankruptcy,  assignats,  maximums,  and  sustain 
these  desperate  measures  against  fortune,  by  an  appeal  to  the 
poor  against  the  rich.  The  forces  of  execution  were  not  want- 
ing. The  single  fact  of  the  sudden  and  complete  revolution, 
accomplished  without  resistance  by  the  arms  of  proletaries; 
two  hundred  thousand  working-men  in  Paris,  who  might  be 
excited  some  time  against  fortune,  as  they  were  rendered  en- 
thusiastic for  virtue;  two  millions  of  unclassed  laboring  people, 
on  the  surface  of  the  republic,  asking  for  bread,  in  our  manufac- 
turing towns,  to  which  the  workshops  would  withdraw  and 
intrench  themselves  ;  —  these  were  elements  of  terror  for  the 
moneyed  classes,  and  of  irresistible  compression  for  a  desperate 
government.  There  was  nothing  that  such  a  government 
would  not  feel  itself  strong  enough  to  do  during  the  first 
months  of  the  republic.  It  had  behind  it  the  impulse  and 
weight  of  a  revolution,  which  would  have  impelled  it  towards 
abysses,  but  which  impelled  it  with  resistless  force.  If  it  did 
not  take  up  with  tyranny,  it  was  because  it  was  wise  enough 
to  despise,  and  politic  enough  to  fear  it.  It  was  daily  more 
difficult  to  refuse  than  to  assume  it.  One  word  from  it,  at  this 
moment,  would  make  all  France  bow.  "  We  have  enough  to 
do  all  the  evil  that  man  could  imagine,"  said  Lamartine  to  Du- 
pont  de  I'Eure.  "  As  for  good,  that  is  a  different  affair.  It  is 
accomplished  slowly,  by  rule  and  proportion."  It  was  not, 
therefore,  the  means  of  operating  upon  fortune  that  disturbed 
the  provisional  government.  These  means  were  superabun- 
dant. 

But  all  these  means, —  bankruptcy,  assignats,  forced  loans, 
taxes  on  the  rich,  decimation  of  capital,  sequestrations,  pro- 
letary confiscations  imposed  as  protections  to  proprietors, — 
exacted  violence  against  all  property.  The  wise  and  moderate 
members  of  the  government  knew  that  from  violence  against 
property  to  violence  against  persons  there  was  only  the  dis- 
tance from  the  evening  to  the  morrow.  Each  of  these  measures 
would  have  caused  scarcity  of  money,  exhausted  the  taxes,  killed 
credit,  and  annihilated  labor.  To  recover  money,  taxes,  credit, 
and  labor,  would  require  legal  processes.  Legal  prosecutiojis 
would  have  produced  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  taxed.  Re- 
sistance would  have  rendered  impeachments,  condemnations, 
fines,  and  imprisonment  necessary.  From  thence  to  the  scaffold 
would  be  but  one  step.  This  step  taken,  blood  would  flow. 
The  first  drop  shed  by  the  republic,  in  the  name  of  the  republic, 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  33 

would  reopen  the  sluices  of  blood.  Humanity  would  be  sacri- 
ficed, the  revolution  perverted,  liberty  dishonored,  France  given 
up  to  crime,  the  rich  to  terror,  the  poor  to  civil  war,  the  repub- 
lic to  the  execration  of  the  future. 

These  ideas,  constantly  present  to  the  mind  of  the  members 
of  government,  and  strongly  re-stated  in  the  council  by  politi- 
cians and  financiers,  left  no  hesitation  possible  with  the  majority 
of  the  council.  On  the  first  measure  of  this  nature  which 
should  have  been  decreed,  wise  men  would  have  retired  to 
repudiate  the  crime  and  disgrace.  To  retire  would  have  been 
to  surrender  the  republic  to  chance,  Paris  to  instantaneous 
convulsions,  and  France  to  lictors.  No  one  could  think  of  it 
without  a  shudder. 

Meanwhile,  it  was  discouraging  to  examine  the  treasury. 
It  could  only  be  filled  as  fast  as  it  was  emptied,  by  daily 
sources  as  abundant  and  inexhaustible  as  the  pressing  neces- 
sities which  drained  it.  There  were  on  hand,  on  the  25th  of 
February,  190,000,000  francs.  It  was  a  sum  much  smaller  than 
that  which  the  vaults  commonly  contain  in  that  month,  which 
precedes  the  month  of  March,  when  the  revenue  is  paid,  and  the 
receipts  are  commonly  accumulated.  If  the  treasury  had 
shown  the  least  hesitation  in  fulfilling  its  engagements,  the 
word  bankruptcy,  equivalent  to  that  of  ruin  with  the  people, 
would  have  instantly  circulated  from  mouth  to  mouth,  frozen 
all  minds,  shut  up  all  capital,  closed  all  money-chests,  and 
decimated  all  the  taxes.  We  should  have  reached  danger  in  a 
few  days.  It  was  necessary  to  show  confidence,  to  inspire  it. 
The  name  of  the  minister  of  finance  gave  it  to  the  capitalists  and 
bankers  of  Paris.  M.  Goudchaux  had  probity,  inflexible  scru- 
ples, rectitude  of  intention,  experience  in  credit  and  intrepidity  to 
resist  all  systematic  schemes,  and  ideas  calculated  to  insure  all 
that  could  and  ought  to  be  insured  in  that  sphere  of  affairs.  He 
was  the  man  for  such  a  moment,  —  a  financial  regularity  in  the 
midst  of  a  political  revolution.  But  he  had  the  defect  insep- 
arable from  his  good  qualities,  credit  as  sensitive  as  his  toul. 
He  was  too  keenly  alarmed  at  the  doctrines  put  forth  by  those 
surrounding  the  government,  who  saw  what  they  called  the 
organization  of  labor  in  tyranny  applied  to  capital.  The  ad- 
dresses of  industrial  socialism,  at  the  Luxembourg,  —  addresses 
which  evaporated  in  the  atmosphere  of  good  sense  of  France 
and  the  working-men  themselves,  —  imposed  on  him,  as  the 
guardiar  of  the  treasury,  incessant  vigils. 

These    iiscourses,  in  fact,  had  a  fatal  influence  on  affiiirs. 


34  HSTOHY    OF    THE 

The  working-men  were  intoxicated,  on  the  first  days,  by  the 
sonorous  words,  which  f  eemed  to  contain  storms  for  the  capital 
ists.  The  manufacturers,  disturbed  by  the  theories  of  wages 
to  be  fixed  authoritatively  by  the  state,  believed  themselves  at 
the  commencement  of  a  peril  greater  than  they  incurred.  The 
panic  closed  factories.  Production  and  consumption  dimin- 
ished, and  in  the  mean  time,  as  the  enlightened  members  of  the 
government  had  foreseen,  the  working-men,  in  a  body,  began  to 
perceive  the  inanity  of  the  Luxembourg  theories.  The  equal- 
ity of  wages  distributed  among  workmen  unequal  in  strength, 
skill,  behavior,  and  labor,  revolted  their  sense  of  equity.  The 
subjection  of  capital,  forced  to  expend  itself  in  labor,  without 
finding  its  interest,  or  deriving  profits  thence,  disturbed  their 
good  sense.  The  eloquence  of  their  young  tribune,  Louis 
Blanc,  attracted  them  ;  but  on  leaving  his  lectures,  they  ques- 
tioned each  other  on  the  applicability  to  their  condition  of  the 
dogmas  of  this  apostle  of  wages.  They  criticized  his  words, 
and  found  them  nothing  but  sound.  They  proceeded  to  con- 
sequences, and  these  only  brought  them  to  the  impossible. 
They  already  shook  their  heads,  and  said,  with  the  vulgar 
energy  of  their  language  :  —  "  This  Luxembourg  is  an  amuse- 
ment the  revolution  has  given  to  idlers.  They  put  us  to  sleep 
with  fine  words,  so  that  we  need  n't  feel  our  hunger.  Let  us 
go  back  to  plain  common  sense.  There  is  neither  capital,  nor 
wages,  nor  work,  without  liberty.  If  we  deprive  the  manufac- 
turer of  liberty,  and  the  rich  man  of  capital,  we  shall  be  all 
equally  wretched.  Equality  of  hunger  is  what  they  preach 
to  us." 

The  problems  of  Louis  Blanc,  of  the  socialists  and  commun- 
ists, came  into  collision  with  each  other  at  the  Luxembourg  like 
the  tongues  of  Babel.  The  heart  of  Louis  Blanc  abounded  in 
fraternal  sentiments,  his  language  in  figures,  but  his  system  in 
darkness.  He  was  the  O'Connell  of  laborers,  giving  brilliancy 
to  problems,  promising  impossibilities,  and  postponing  results 
among  men  who  could  not  postpone  their  necessities. 

Some  members  of  the  majority  of  government  came  together 
at  the  house  of  M.  Cremieux,  the  minister  of  justice,  to  exam- 
ine, among  themselves,  the  position  of  things,  and  to  hear  the 
lamentatiors  of  M.  Goudchaux.  There,  before  MM.  Marie, 
Bethmont,  Cremieux,  Gamier  Pages,  Duclerc,  Pagnerre,  Car- 
not,  and  Lamartine,  M.  Goudchaux  announced  his  irrevoca- 
ble intention  of  retiring.  The  members  of  government  and  the 
ministers  present  werf  in  consternation.      They  felt  what  a 


REVOLrXION   OF     848. 


35 


heavy  blow  to  the  little  credit  that  remained  would  he  struck  by 
the  retreat  of  an  esteemed  minister,  who  enjoyed  the  confidence 
of  capitalists.  It  would  be  an  acknowledgment  of  distress,  in 
the  eyes  of  public  opinion.  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  Gamier  Pages, 
Lamartine,  all  the  members  of  the  conference,  begged  M.  Goud- 
chaux  to  abandon  his  resolution.  They  pathetically  repre- 
sented to  him  the  deplorable  consequences  which  would  flow 
frc  m  it ;  the  calumnies  of  moneyed  men,  the  fright  of  the  taxable, 
the  panic  in  the  money  market,  and  the  inundation  of  Paris 
by  masses  of  workmen  out  of  employment. 

M.  GoLidchaux  did  not  yield.  A  mournful  silence  ensued. 
Each  felt  that  in  so  critical  a  moment,  when  the  finances  were 
everything,  when  bankruptcy  might  result  from  the  disap- 
pearance of  specie,  and  when  specie  might  disappear  with 
M.  Goudchaux,  the  resignation  of  the  minister  of  finance 
would  be  the  most  terrible  blow  which  could  be  aimed  at  gov- 
ernment. 

These  were  moments  of  anguish  whose  impression  would 
rest  poignantly  on  the  hearts  of  those  who  understood  the 
bearing  of  this  business  catastrophe  in  so  short  a  time  from 
the  proclamation  of  the  republic. 

Lamartine,  in  particular,  trembled  at  it.  He  was  convinced 
that  bankruptcy,  terror,  and  war,  were  the  same  word.  But 
he  was  also  convinced  that  the  government  ought  only  to 
acknowledge  itself  vanquished  by  financial  difficulties  when  it 
gave  up  entirely. 

"  To  confess  ourselves  overcome  or  impotent,  in  view  of  the 
difficulties  of  the  treasury,  would  be  to  say  to  the  enemies  of 
France,  that  the  republic  has  commenced  its  career  by  bank- 
ruptcy. Sooner  all  die  as  the  doomed ! "  cried  he,  rising  in 
despair.  "  The  departure  of  the  minister  of  finance  disturbs, 
but  it  shall  not  discourage  us.  Now  that  we  have  done  every- 
thing to  prevent  this  misfortune,  let  us  do  everything  to 
repair  it." 

The  same  impulse  roused  all  who  were  present  at  the  con- 
ference. Gamier  Pages,  though  sinking  with  weakness,  lassi- 
tude, and  illness,  found  in  his  heart  the  courage  of  an  honest 
man,  that  never  fails.  He  ac2epted  the  burthen,  whose  weight 
he  estimated  better  than  any  other  man,  but  in  sustaining 
which,  his  religious  patriotism  was  equal  to  his  devotion. 
His  acceptance  saved  the  treasury,  and  in  saving  the  finances 
from  the  ejtreme  and  severe  measures  which  imprudence 
recommended  to  despair,  he  really  saved  the  republic. 


BOOK  X. 


I. 

Meanwhile  the  government  had  not  yet  received  any  pre- 
cise intelligence  with  regard  to  the  fate  of  the  king,  queen,  and 
royal  family.  The  agents  appointed  by  Lamartine  to  go  and 
protect  their  flight  were  vainly  waiting  for  an  order  to  depart. 
It  has  been  seen  that  the  government  desired  to  facilitate  the 
escape  of  the  king,  the  princes,  and  the  ministers,  instead  of 
interposing  obstacles.  Hence  they  had  only  employed  official 
means  to  obtain  intelligence  of  their  different  routes.  It  was 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  government,  and  by  a  spontane- 
ous act  of  justice,  that  a  precept  signed  by  the  attorney-general 
ordered  the  arrest  and  trial  of  the  fugitive  ministers.  The 
government  was  astonished  and  afflicted  at  this  act.  This 
suit  would  conflict  with  all  their  ideas.  It  would  pave  the 
way  for  painful  emotions  in  the  capital.  It  would  falsify  the 
character  of  mildness  and  magnanimity  which  the  members 
of  government  wished  to  impart  to  the  revolution.  Lamartine 
summoned  the  attorney-general  to  the  ministry  of  foreign 
affairs,  to  express  these  feelings  to  him.  They  appeared  to  be 
also  the  feelings  of  the  magistrate,  who  had  only,  he  said, 
obeyed  a  superior  order.  M.  Portalis  promised  Lamartine 
that  the  precept  should  be  regarded  as  a  simple  formality,  and 
that  it  should  be  suffered  to  expire  in  neglect. 

It  was  the  same  with  a  decree  of  the  government  which  sup- 
pressed titles.  This  question,  discussed  on  the  25th  of  Febru- 
ary, at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  had  been  contemptuously  dismissed 
by  the  council.  "  Do  not  let  us  commence  the  republic  by  an 
act  of  folly,"  said  Lamartine.  "  The  nobility  is  abolished,  but 
we  do  not  abolish  reminiscences  and  vanities." 

The  members  of  the  government  were  surprised  to  read,  a 
few  days  after,  a  decree  which  abolished  the  use  of  titles. 
They  left  it  to  neglect.  The  innumerable  quantity  of  decrees 
which  passed  from  their  hands  in  circumstances  of  urgency, 
and  the  tumult  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  gave  rise  to  some  errors 


REVOLUTIOIi  OF    1848.  37 

of  this  nature.  Many  of  these  decrees  bore  only  one  or  two 
of  our  signatures.  They  were  taken  from  the  council-table, 
and  hurried  to  the  printers,  without  having  all  been  subject  to 
the  control  or  verification  of  the  council. 


II. 

We  have  seen  that  the  king  and  the  Duchess  of  Nemours 
and  her  children  had  got  into  two  one-horse  hackney-carriages 
in  the  place  de  la  Concorde,  and  had  taken  the  road  to  Samt- 
Cloud,  escorted  by  a  regiment  of  cuirassiers,  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Regnaud  de  Saint-Jean  d'Angely.  At  Saint- 
Cloud  the  king  took  the  court-carriages  and  repaired  to  Trianon, 
where  he  remained  a  few  moments,  as  if  to  give  fortune  time 
to  reach  and  retain  him.  Gen.  Ktgnaud  de  Saint-Jean  d'An- 
gely having  finally  asked  him  what  orders  he  wished  to  give  to 
the  troops,  and  whether  he  wished  to  unite  them  round  him  at 
Saint-Cloud,  the  king  replied  :  "  It  is  no  affair  of  mine ;  it  now 
belongs  to  the  Duke  of  Nemours."  The  postmaster  of  Ver- 
sailles brought  twenty-eight  horses  for  his  carriages  to  Trianon, 
—  far  different  from  the  famous  postmaster  of  Sainte-Manchold, 
who,  by  withholding  them  from  Louis  XVI.,  when  he  too  was 
a  fugitive,  caused  this  unfortunate  monarch  and  all  his  family 
to  lose  their  heads ;  —  the  postmaster  of  Versailles  said  to  the 
king,  "  Here  are  the  best  horses  in  my  stables.  I  have  selected 
them  myself,  as  fiery  and  spirited,  to  make  sure  of  the  departure 
and  safety  of  the  king,  on  the  indirect  roads  which  he  had  best 
take.  Make  them  keep  the  road  as  long  as  they  have  breath  in 
their  bodies.  Do  not  think  of  me.  Kill  them,  sire,  —  but  let 
them  save  you !" 

The  king  took  the  road  to  Dreux  at  the  close  of  day.  He 
reached  it  in  the  early  part  of  the  evening.  In  that  town  they 
were  still  in  ignorance  of  the  events  in  Paris.  M.  de  Marechal, 
the  sub-prefect,  hearing  of  the  arrival  of  carriages  from  the  court 
at  an  unusual  hour,  thought  they  must  bring  some  princess, 
frightened  at  the  disturbances  at  the  Tuileries,  to  this  royal  so- 
journ.    He  repaired  to  the  chateau,  and  recognized  the  king. 

"  I  am  a  king  no  longer,"  said  this  prince.  "  I  know  not 
even  where  I  shall  find  shelter  for  my  life  !  Paris  is  in  flames  ! 
I  have  abdicated,  to  avoid  the  last  misfortunes.  I  confide  my- 
self to  you  in  my  evil  fortune,  as  I  did  in  my  days  of  prosperity. 
Tell  me,  tell  me  of  the  course  of  events  I  am  ignorant  of,  and  ad- 
vise me  according  to  the  circumstances  you  will  learn  this  night." 

VOL.  II.  4 


38  HISTOR/    OF    THE 

At  these  words  the  mayor  of  Dreux  entersd  to  pay  his 
respects  to  the  king.  He  was  ignorant  of  all.  The  king 
then  spoke,  and  was  the  narrator  of  his  own  misfortunes.  He 
recounted  in  detail  and  warmly  the  series  of  vicissitudes  which 
had  filled  up  the  last  days,  up  to  the  moment  when,  beleaguered 
in  his  palace  by  the  increasing  insurrection,  ill-advised  by  his 
ministers  of  the  preceding  evening,  and  ill-assisted  by  those  of 
the  ensuing  day,  ill-defended  by  his  still  faithful  troops,  and 
abandoned  by  the  National  Guard,  for  whom  he  had  reigned, 
abdication  and  flight  through  musket-shots  had  become  his 
only  resource.  He  was  moved,  touching,  and  impassioned. 
He  was  indignant  at  the  blindness  of  the  National  Guard,  the 
weakness  and  hesitation  of  his  ministers,  and  the  ingratitude 
of  the  people,  who  had  raised  a  man  to  the  throne  to  save  them 
from  anarchy,  and  who  hurled  him,  from  caprice,  to  the  bottom 
of  the  pit  from  which  he  had  rescued  them.  He  was  softened 
when  he  spoke  of  the  vanity  of  services  rendered  to  men,  the 
fate  of  the  queen,  and  their  old  age,  yet  green  and  strong,  bound 
up  in  the  uselessness  of  a  royal  exile  far  from  Paris,  which  they 
had  loved  so  much,  far  from  the  government  he  had  directed, 
far  from  the  councils  he  had  enlightened  by  his  experience 
and  intelligence. 

The  two  magistrates  shed  tears  at  these  reproaches,  addressed 
by  an  old  man,  crushed  by  his  fall,  to  his  fortune  and  the  nation. 
The  king,  soon  leaving  this  sad  subject,  returned  to  his  grand- 
son, and  pitying  his  children,  cast  by  a  partial  revolution  on  a 
throne  which  his  wisdom  could  not  strengthen,  he  seemed  to 
forbode  misfortunes,  and  to  address  despairing  supplication^'  to 
Heaven  for  their  destinies. 

Meanwhile,  the  king  still  flattered  himself  that  his  retreat  had 
quieted  everything,  and  that  his  abdication  had  left  behind  him 
a  throne,  legislature,  and  government.  He  told  the  mayor  and 
sub-prefect  that  his  intention  was  to  remain  four  days  at  Dreux, 
to  await  the  resolution  of  the  Chambers  with  regard  to  him, 
the  indication  of  his  residence,  and  the  mode  of  royal  life, 
which  should  be  assigned  by  the  nation.  He  took  some  food, 
and  went  to  view  the  buildings  he  had  ordered  at  the  chateau, 
by  lamplight,  like  a  man  who  was  sure  of  the  next  day. 

This  uninhabited  chateau  was  destitute  of  all  the  articles 
necessary  for  the  king,  the  princesses,  and  children.  The  resi- 
dents attached  to  the  royal  family  hastened  to  bring  furniture, 
linen,  clothes,  and  silver  plate.  They  lent  the  king  some  hun- 
dred pieces  of  gold.     The  sub-prefect  proposed  to  send  for  the 


ft 
KEVOLUTION    OF    1348,  39 

regiment  of  Chartres,  which  was  in  garrison  at  Chartrcs.  The 
National  Guard  of  Dreux  furnished  him  with  sentinels  of  secu- 
rity and  honor. 

After  supper,  he  wrote  leisurely  to  M.  de  Montalivet,  the 
master  of  his  household,  to  ask  him  for  his  portfolios,  his  neces- 
sary articles,  and  the  apparatus  of  his  toilette,  and  to  give  him 
instructions  relative  to  the  disposition  of  his  property. 

At  two  o'clock,  the  courier  who  bore  this  despatch  departed. 
The  king  went  to  bed,  and  slept  profoundly.  During  his  sleep, 
a  friend  of  ^I.  Bethmont  arrived  from  Paris,  and  announced  to 
the  sub-prefect  the  proclamation  of  the  republic. 

M.  Marcchal  wished  at  least  to  allow  the  king  his  hours  of 
sleep,  to  restore  his  strength  sufficiently  to  bear  the  blow  he 
was  going  to  receive.  He  went  up  to  the  chateau  at  seven 
o'clock,  and  told  the  king's  aide-de-camp  and  the  Duke  of 
Montpensier.  The  king  was  still  sleeping.  His  family  awoke 
him.  The  news  was  broken  and  softened  to  him  by  the  ten- 
derness of  the  queen.  This  princess  changed  the  courage  she 
exhibited  during  the  stnjggle  for  resignation  after  her  misfor- 
tune. A  council  of  the  family  and  friends  was  held  around  the 
king's  bed.  It  was  agreed  that  the  royal  family  should  sepa- 
rate, to  avoid  suspicion  and  the  emotions  which  recognized  car- 
riages or  familiar  faces  might  excite  upon  the  roads. 

An  isolated  and  uninhabited  country-house,  on  the  cape  of 
Honfleur,  belonging  to  M.  de  Perthius,  was  assio-ned  as  a  ren- 
dezvous  for  the  king  and  queen.  There  it  was  hoped  that  they 
would  easily  find  secret  means  of  embarking  and  gaining  the 
English  coast.  The  Duke  of  Montpensier,  the  Duchess  of 
Nemours,  and  the  children,  would  take  the  road  to  Arranches, 
to  fly  from  thence  to  the  island  of  Jersey  or  Guernsey. 

The  court  carriages  were  abandoned.  The  sub-prefect  bor- 
rowed less  suspicious  ones  from  residents  at  Dreux.  The  most 
simple  garments  disguised  the  fugitives.  A  calash  carried  the 
Duke  of  Montpensier  and  the  Duchess  of  Nemours  towards 
Arranches.  The  king  and  queen,  a  chambermaid  and  a  valet 
of  M.  de  Rumigny,  an  aide-de-camp  of  the  king,  got  into  a  close 
cariiage.  The  queen,  who  had  requested  a  mass  in  the 
morning  at  the  chapel,  over  the  tomb  of  her  son,  could  not 
even  breathe  her  farewell  prayers  to  his  ashes.  Time  pressed. 
The  sub-prefect  of  Dreux,  seated  on  the  coach-box,  set  out  with 
them.     He  took  the  road  to  Anet  and  Louviers. 

On  reaching  Anet,  the  first  post  relay,  the  king  was  recog- 
nised, and  respectfully  saluted.     M.  Marcchal  procured  eight 


40  HISTORY    OF    THE 

or  ten  thousand  francs  in  gold  for  him,  and  passports  with  fic- 
titious names. 

At  Saint-Andre  they  had  to  wait  for  hours.  The  people, 
collected  by  a  market-day,  suspected  and  examined  the  carriage 
from  a  distance.  They  thought  they  saw  Guizot  in  it.  A  cry 
arose,  "  It  is  Guizot !  it  is  Guizot ! "  The  commotion  spread, 
and  became  threatening.  The  sub-prefect,  who  was  known  to 
some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Saint-Andre,  labored  to  undeceive 
the  multitude.  He  made  half  revelations,  which  were  under- 
stood and  respected. 

Meanwhile,  three  men  approached  and  lo'oked  into  the  carriage. 
The  king  kept  himself  half  hidden.  He  wore  a  black  cap, 
pulled  down  over  his  forehead,  and  spectacles,  but  no  false  hair 
on  his  bald  head.  The  men  were  in  doubt,  but  soon  returned 
with  two  gendarmes.  The  passports  were  demanded.  M. 
Marechal  presented  them,  took  one  of  the  gendarmes  aside,  and 
confided  to  his  generosity  the  secret  of  the  king  and  queen's 
safety.  The  gendarme,  affected,  made  a  feint  of  examining 
the  passports,  and  found  them  correct.  The  horses  were  har- 
nessed, and  the  king  started. 

III. 

The  carriage  thus  rolled  on  the  whole  day  without  obstacle. 
The  only  danger  was  passing  through  Evreux.  M.  Marechal 
trembled  lest  the  prince  should  be  recognized  and  arrested  in  a 
town  so  near  to  Paris,  where  the  effervescing  population  might 
give  reason  to  fear  emotions  in  the  name  of  the  king.  They 
were  fast  approaching  it ;  the  anxiety  of  the  man  who  watched 
over  the  safety  of  these  two  old  persons  increased  at  each  turn 
of  the  wheels.  He  already  discerned  the  spires  of  the  city.  A 
reminiscence  came  to  his  mind.  He  remembered  that  one  of 
his  friends  had  a  country-house  near  the  route,  in  the  vicinity 
of  Evreux.  He  caused  the  horses  to  be  stopped.  He  ques- 
tioned a  cantonnier  who  was  breaking  stones  on  the  edge  of  the 
road ;  this  man  pointed  with  his  finger  towards  the  house,  and 
indicated  the  cross-road  which  led  thither.  M.  Marechal  or- 
dered the  postilion  to  drive  the  carriage  there. 

The  mansion  was  vacant.  The  farmer  and  his  wife  receive 
the  travellers,  without  knowing  them,  at  their  own  fireside. 
The  king  and  queen  install  themselves  in  a  chamber  contiguous 
to  the  kitchen  of  the  farm-house  ;  they  warm  themselves  ;  they 
receive  the  rustic  hospitality  of  these  poor  people,  who  take 
them  for  friends  of  their  master. 


E EVOLUTION    OF    1848.  41 

While  they  are  enjoying  these  hours  of  repose,  M.  Mart'chal 
hastens  on  foot  to  Evreux,  and  informs  his  friend  of  the  charge 
intrusted  to  his  house. 

The  town  was  in  a  state  of  fermentation  at  the  successive 
rumors  from  Paris.  Passing  through  Evreux  was  impossible. 
M.  Marijchal  and  his  friend,  after  having  acquainted  themselves 
with  the  means  of  avoiding  it  by  turning  around  the  wall,  rejoin 
the  royal  family  in  its  retreat. 

The  farmer,  informed  by  his  master  of  the  rank  and  of  the 
misfortune  of  the  guests  whom  he  had  received,  devotes  him- 
self with  ardor  to  their  safety.  He  was  familiar  with  the  by- 
roads ;  he  harnesses  his  horses  to  the  carriage ;  he  himself 
guides  the  king. 

A  confidential  man  guided  the  queen  by  another  route. 
They  leave  at  seven  o'clock ;  they  travel  all  night ;  before  day 
the  king  and  queen  arrive,  in  separate  directions,  at  the  cape 
of  Hornfleur,  and  take  shelter,  without  having  excited  any  at- 
tention, in  the  house  of  M.  de  Perthius.  This  house,  hidden 
amidst  trees,  is  built  on  an  elevation,  at  half  an  hour's  walk 
from  the  city. 

IV. 

It  was  the  26th  of  February.  The  master  of  the  house  did 
not  inhabit  it ;  an  intelligent  and  trusty  gardener  was  informed 
beforehand  of  the  mystery  which  he  was  going  to  protect.  This 
man  had  inspired  his  wife  and  children  with  the  discretion  and 
devotedness  on  which  depended  the  whole  plan  of  the  safety  and 
escape  of  the  king  and  queen.  No  one  suspected  in  the  country 
that  this  deserted  house  enclosed  those  who  were  two  days  pre- 
viously sovereigns  of  France,  and  hosts  of  so  many  palaces. 
Care  had  been  taken  to  keep  the  blinds  shut ;  even  the  chimney 
smoke  rose  only  at  night.  This  confinement  lasted  nine  days. 
These  nine  days  were  employed  by  General  Rumigny,  by  Gen- 
eral Dumas,  and  by  a  few  confidants,  in  procuring  for  the  king 
safe  means  of  embarking  for  England.  The  prijice  and  his 
friends  were  ignorant  that  the  government  had  authorized  La- 
martine  to  procure  for  them  himself  those  means  of  flight,  with 
the  respect  and  pruden.e  due  to  peril  and  misfortune. 

The  king,  fearing  to  be  recognized  and  arrested  ut  Havre,  if 
he  repaired  there  to  take  the  packet-boat  for  England,  went  by 
night  on  foot  to  Trouville.  A  merchant  of  Trouville,  M. 
Gueltier,  gave  him  an  asylum  for  two  days.  By  the  advice  of 
his  host,  the  king  decided  to  freight  a  fisher-boat  of  the  pjrt  of 

VOL.  n.  4*= 


43 


HISIORY    OF    THE 


Trouville,  in  order  to  convey  him  by  sea  to  an  English  packet- 
boat.  The  first  captain  whom  he  addressed  is  suspicious,  bar- 
gains, and  wishes  exorbitant  payment  for  his  services :  he  is 
dismissed.  Another  suspects  also  that  the  object  is  to  save 
fugitives  :  with  generosity  he  gratuitously  offers  his  bark ;  his 
devotion  is  accepted.  But  the  first,  jealous  and  base,. hearing 
of  the  projected  departure  of  his  comrade,  di\ailges  the  secret 
and  denounces  him.  The  king,  informed  of  the  rurnors  which 
circulate  in  the  town,  is  apprehensive  of  the  domiciliary  researches 
which  these  rumors  may  occasion ;  he  changes  his  asylum,  and 
returns  at  length  by  night,  over  muddy  roads,  in  the  rain,  dis- 
couraged, harassed,  and  believing  himself  pursued,  to  the  house 
of  the  gardener,  where  the  queen  awaited  him.  The  coast 
seemed  to  close  before  them.  Enthusiasm  for  the  republic, 
although  inoffensive  and  generous,  seemed  to  give  to  the  whole 
land  the  appearance  of  hatred  against  royalty. 

A  young  naval  officer  residing  at  Havre,  who  was  not  in  the 
secret  of  the  king's  residence  in  the  suburbs,  but  who  suspected, 
from  partial  revelations,  that  the  royal  family  were  seeking  in 
vain  for  means  of  escape,  took  it  upon  himself  to  inquire  of 
Captain  Pol,  of  the  English  navy,  if  he  would  consent  to  take 
the  king  on  board,  out  at  sea,  in  case  that  prince  should  come 
up  with  his  packet-boat  in  a  fishing  vessel.  Captain  Pol  replied 
that  his  orders  forbade  it ;  but,  upon  his  arrival  at  Southampton, 
he  hastens  to  acquaint  the  Admiralty  confidentially  of  the  over- 
tures which  have  been  made  to  him.  and  of  the  service  that  a 
packet-boat  crossing  over  to  the  coasts  of  France  might  render 
the  king.  Lord  Palmerston  instantly  despatches  orders  to  this 
intent  to  the  English  consuls  on  our  northern  coast. 

The  young  ofllicer,  warned  in  turn  by  the  English  consul  at 
Havre,  succeeded  in  discovering  the  asylum  of  the  fugitive 
prince.  It  was  agreed  that  the  king  should  embark  at  Havre, 
on  board  of  one  of  the  -vessels  which  carry  cattle  and  provisions 
from  the  French  to  the  English  coast. 

Five  entire  days,  with  a  head  wind  and  terrible  sea,  opposed 
the  departure  of  these  vessels.  The  king  consumed  the  time 
in  chafing  with  impatience  and  anxiety.  He  passed  backwards 
and  forwards,  went  several  times  across  the  fields,  and  in  the 
storms  of  the  night,  from  his  retreat  to  the  port  of  Ha\Te,  and 
from  the  port  of  Havre  to  his  retreat.  He  finally  detennined 
on  the  most  dangerous  course  of  all,  to  embark,  not  far  from 
Rouen,  on  board  a  packet-boat  which  plied  between  Rouen  and 
Havre.     This  vessel,  which  arrived  at  Havre  in  the   night, 


REVOLUTIOII    OF    1S48.  43 

would  afforJ  him  more  opportunities  of  getting  through  that 
city  without  being  noticed,  and  of  passing  immediately  as  a 
traveller  coming  from  Paris  on  the  Seine  by  tliis  boat,  to  the 
vessel  at  sea,  which  takes  passengers  to  convey  them  imme- 
diately to  England. 

The  king  disguised  himself.  He  took  the  name  of  Theodore 
Lebrun.  The  mayor  favored  the  embarkation  by  some  loyal 
connivance.  The  English  vice-consul  g-ave  his  arm  to  the 
queen.  The  two  old  people,  as  they  mounted  on  deck,  recog- 
nized the  verj-  vessel  they  had  chartered  a  year  before  for  their 
water-party,  during  their  sojourn  of  pleasure  and  gayety  at  the 
chateau  d'Eu.  Some  of  the  same  sailors  still  formed  a  part  of 
the  crew  ;  the  person  whose  duty  it  was  to  pass  the  passengers 
in  review  to  get  their  passage-money  carried  a  lanthorn,  whose 
light  accidentally  fell  upon  the  king's  face.  He  recognized  by 
this  flash  the  prince,  whom  another  look  of  his  might  betray. 
He  hastened  to  turn  his  lantern,  making  a  respectful  sign  of 
discretion  to  his  old  master. 

The  rumor  circulated  confidentially  among  the  crew  that  the 
vessel  had  the  fugitives  from  Eu  on  board.  Not  one  of  those 
sailors  dreamed  of  serving  the  republic  by  a  base  act  of  treachery 
to  old  age  and  misfortune.  They  pretended  not  to  see  or  notice 
anything ;  only,  when  the  vessel  was  anchored  at  the  quay  at 
HaATe,  they  quietly  arranged  themselves  as  the  travellers 
passed,  and  taking  off  their  hats  and  bowing  with  silent  respect, 
said,  in  a  low  tone,  "  May  Heaven  protect  you  !  "  It  was  what 
the  republic  itself  had  said,  by  the  voice  of  its  goA'ernment, 
when  the  volleys  were  yet  blazing,  and  the  blood  of  Paris  was 
not  yet  wiped  away  beneath  the  feet. 


There  was  only  the  width  of  a  quay  to  cross,  in  order  to  pass 
from  the  Rouen  packet  to  the  packet  for  Southampton.  The 
king,  the  queen,  preceded  by  General  Dumas,  and  General 
Rumigny,  cross  it  without  being  observed,  and  go  on  board  the 
English  vessel.  At  the  moment  that  the  king  puts  his  foot  on 
the  ladder,  a  female  raises  a  lantern  in  her  hand,  and  exclaims, 
"  It 's  he  !  it 's  the  king ! "  An  officer  approaches,  to  assure 
himself,  doubtless,  by  his  own  eyes,  of  the  identity  of  the  prince. 
"  It  is  too  late,"  said  the  captain  of  the  packet,  and  he  drew  up 
tlie  ladder. 

This  circumstance  made  a  lively  impression  on  the  attendants 


44 


HISTORY    OF    THE 


of  the  king,  who  helieved  that  his  safety  had  been  held  in  sus- 
pense at  this  minute,  and  had  perhaps  been  compromised  by  the 
exclamation  of  a  woman,  and  by  the  curiosity  of  a  soldier ;  but 
no  order  to  oppose  the  departure  of  the  king  had  been  given  by 
any  one,  and  instructions  the  most  contrary  to  every  measure 
against  his  safety  and  his  liberty  were  in  the  hands  of  the 
agents. 

The  vessel  sailed  during  a  night  of  squalls,  and  with  a  terrible 
sea  ;  it  bore  the  king  to  Southampton,  where  the  hospitality  of 
his  son-in-law,  the  King  of  the  Belgians,  awaited  him  in  the 
royal  chateau  at  Claremont. 


VI. 

Other  vicissitudes,  resulting  from  the  same  error  as  to  the 
intentions  of  the  government,  and  the  magnanimity  of  the  people, 
had  for  some  time  signalized  the  flight  of  the  Duchess  of  Or- 
leans, her  sons,  the  Duke  of  Nemours,  his  children,  and  the 
Duchess  of  Mont])ensier. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  compelled  to  fly 
from  the  hall  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  at  the  second  inva- 
sion of  the  people,  had  retired  with  the  Count  of  Paris,  and 
MM.  de  Mornay,  Scheffer,  Lasteyrie,  Courtais  and  Clement. 
With  admirable  presence  of  mind  and  courage,  M.  de  Mornay 
had  protected  her  departure  and  course  from  the  Chamber  of' 
Deputies  to  the  Hotel  des  Invalides.  The  carriage  which  con- 
veyed the  princess  had  escaped  the  notice  of  the  populace. 
Marshal  Molitor  had  sheltered  the  princess,  the  Count  of  Paris, 
and  the  Duke  of  Nemours,  in  his  apartments  for  some  hours  ; 
but  the  old  soldier,  sick,  and  troubled  by  the  responsibility  of 
the  occurrences,  had  shown  doubts  with  regard  to  the  disposition 
of  the  Invalides,  and  anxiety  as  to  the  security  of  this  asylum, 
which  had  seriously  shaken  the  confidence  of  the  princess  and 
her  friends. 

While  the  marshal  was  preparing  a  dinner  for  his  guests,  and 
while  councils  of  friends  were  being  held  around  her,  the  prin- 
cess—  who  had  constantly  before  her  eyes  the  reminiscence  of 
the  captivity  of  the  Temple,  and  the  picture  of  her  son  placed 
in  the  hands  of  another  Simon  —  had  resolved  not  to  prolong 
her  stay  at  the  Invalides  an  hour.  She  started  with  her  son 
before  daybreak,  under  the  guard  of  M..  Anatole  de  Montesquiou, 
for  the  chateau  de  Ligny,  a  few  leagues  from  Paris. 

M.  Anatole  de  Montesquiou,  an  old  aide-de-camp  of  the  em- 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848. 


45 


peror,  afterwards  attached  to  the  court  of  Queen  Amelia,  was 
one  of  those  persons  who  possess  not  only  the  graces  of  the  cour- 
tier, but  who  have  the  bravery  of  soldiers,  the  chivalry  of  poets, 
and  the  devotion  of  honest  men.  The  princess,  protected  by 
]\I.  de  Montesquiou,  hourly  informed  by  her  friends  in  Paris  ot 
all  that  could  interest  her  mother's  heart,  and  suspend  or  aid  her 
flight,  passed  several  days  in  concealment  at  the  chateau  de 
Ligny.  She  was  there  consumed  by  anxiety  with  regard  to  the 
fate  of  her  second  son,  the  Duke  of  Chartres. 

At  the  moment  of  her  escape  from  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 
she  had  been  separated  from  her  children  by  the  people,  who 
poured  into  the  halls,  the  staircases,  and  lobbies.  The  Duke  of 
Chartres  had  fallen  under  the  feet  of  the  crowd.  His  mother's 
cries  summoned  him  in  vain.  The  waves  of  the  people  were  as 
deaf  as  those  of  ocean. 

Deputies  and  employes  of  the  Chamber  had  promised  her  to 
bring  back  her  son  in  a  short  time.  They  had  implored  her 
not  to  destroy  herself,  as  well  as  the  Count  of  Paris,  by  insisting 
on  remaining  in  the  midst  of  a  tumult  which  would  menace, 
stifle  her,  or^'retain  her  prisoner.  In  fact,  two  brothers,  named 
Lipmann,  ushers  of  the  Chamber,  Alsacians  by  birth,  and  de- 
voted to  the  princess,  exliausted  themselves  in  eflforts  to  recover 
and  save  the  young  prince.  While  one  of  them,  Jacob  Lip- 
mann, picked  up  the  poor  child,  raised  him  in  his  arms  to  give 
him  breath,  and  shielded  him  from  the  crush  of  the  multitude, 
the  other,  at  the  entrance  of  the  corridor,  sustained  the  whole 
weight  of  the  crowed,  which  threatened  to  overturn  him  in  its 
surging.  The  usher,  Lipmann,  carried  the  child  to  his  lodging 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  palace.  He  put  him  to  bed,  took 
care  of  him,  and  gave  notice  to  M.  de  Lespte,  the  questor  of 
the  Assembly,  of  the  trust  which  the  fortune  of  the  day  had 
placed  in  his  hands. 

At  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  M.  de  Lespee,  who  thought 
the  duchess  was  still  at  the  Livalides,  went  to  M.  Lipmann's  to . 
get  the  Duke  of  Chartres.  M.  Lipmann  carried  the  prince, 
dressed  like  a  child  of  the  people,  in  his  arms.  The  duchess 
had  gone.  M.  de  la  Valette  and  M.  d'Elchingen  confided  hmi 
to  the  care  of  j\L  and  Madame  de  Mornay.  He  remained  two 
days  sick  in  the  house  of  a  poor  woman  in  the  rue  de  I'Univer- 
site,  to  whom  M.  de  Mornay  had  confided  him,  to  hide  hnn 
from  pursuit.  Rendered  easy  by  the  tone  of  the  government, 
M.  and  Madame  de  Mornay  took  him  back  to  their  house. 


46  HISTORY    OF   THE 

loaded  him  with  attentions,  and  placed  him  safe  and  sound  in 
the  arms  of  his  mother. 

The  princess  set  out  from  the  chateau  de  Ligny  in  disguise. 
A  carriage,  prepared  by  her  friends,  conveyed  her  to  Versailles. 
At  Asnieres  she  took  the  railroad  to  Lille.  She  passed  the 
night,  without  sleep,  in  watching  and  praying  at  the  bedside  of 
her  children. 

The  shadow  of  the  revolution  constantly  pursued  her.  On 
the  threshold  of  France,  she  still  trembled  at  the  idea  of  being 
detained,  and  leaving  her  children  to  the  fate  of  the  children 
of  Marie  Antoinette.  But  it  was  no  longer  the  France  with- 
out pity,  the  France  of  prisons  and  scaffolds. 

General  Baudrand,  the  guardian  of  the  Count  of  Paris,  and 
counsellor  of  the  princess,  although  sick,  and  incapable  of  mov- 
ing, had  caused  himself  to  be  carried  to  his  post  at  the  palace 
at  the  moment  of  the  invasion  of  the  people.  When  the  people 
entered  in  the  footsteps  of  the  duchess,  who  had  just  gone  out, 
the  general  told  the  invaders  that  they  were  in  the  apartments 
of  the  widow  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  At  these  words  they 
uncovered  themselves.  They  respected  the  apartments,  and, 
of  their  own  accord,  posted  sentinels  at  the  doors,  to  preserve 
the  souvenirs  of  the  wife  and  mother.  They  fought  against 
royalty  ;  they  bowed  before  nature. 

The  princess  had  friends  among  the  leaders  who  commanded 
at  Lille.  The  numerous  army  which  formed  the  garrison  of 
this  fortified  place  might  be  tempted  by  her  presence,  and 
seduced  from  the  republic  by  their  enthusiasm  for  a  woman 
and  a  child.  During  this  last  night  she  had  an  idea  of  show  • 
ing  herself  to  the  troops,  and  claiming  the  throne  for  her  son. 
The  crime  of  civil  war  interposed  between  the  throne  and  this 
idea.  She  recoiled  from  it,  and  set  out  from  Lille.  She 
reached  the  banks  of  the  Khine,  under  the  name  of  the  Coun- 
tess of  Dreux.  She  rejoined  her  mother  at  Ems,  and  sought 
solace  in  the  perfectly  pure  recollections  of  her  transitory  hap- 
piness in  France,  of  her  mourning,  her  misfortune,  the  ruin  of 
her  destiny  by  another's  faults  ;  and  in  her  resignation  to  the 
will  of  her  second  country,  in  which  her  name  had  inspired 
men  of  all  parties  only  with  admiration,  tenderness,  and  respect. 

vn. 

The  Duke  of  Nemours  left  France  without  hindrance,  as 
soon  as  his  duties  to  his  father,  sister-in-law,  and  nephew,  had 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S43.  47 

been  discharged.  He  had  sho\A'n  himself  more  worthy  of  his 
popularity  in  misfortune  than  in  prosperity.  Intrepid  and  dis- 
interested, he  had  not  bargained  either  with  his  life  or  his 
rights  to  the  regency,  to  save  the  crown  for  his  brother's  son. 
History  owes  him  the  justice  which  public  opinion  does  not 
allow  him. 

T-?fo  princesses  had  been  separated  from  the  king  and  queen 
at  the  moment  of  their  precipitate  departure  from  the  Tuile- 
ries.  These  were  the  Princess  Clementine,  the  wife  of  the 
Duke  of  Saxe-Coburg,  and  the  Duchess  of  Montpensier.  The 
Duke  of  Montpensier,  on  accompanying  his  father  to  the  car- 
riages which  awaited  him  in  the  place  de  la  Concorde,  thought 
to  return  without  obstacle  to  the  Tuileries,  and  watch  per- 
sonally over  the  safety  of  his  wife,  whom  advanced  preg- 
nancy had  retained  for  some  days  in  her  apartments.  The 
crowd  which  poured  out  of  all  the  issues  into  the  gardens  had 
soon  apprized  the  prince  that  all  return  was  impossible.  On 
leaving,  he  had  confided  the  princess  to  the  care  of  some  per- 
sons of  his  household,  and  the  solicitude  of  M.  Jules  de  Las- 
teyrie,  whose  loyalty,  name,  and  popularity,  rendered  him  easy 
in  every  event.  He  had  mounted  his  horse  precipitately,  and 
followed  the  king  to  Saint-Cloud. 

At  the  moment  of  the  invasion  of  the  chateau,  M.  de  Las- 
teyrie  had  given  his  arm  to  the  princess.  He  had  become 
involved  with  her  in  the  crowd,  which  was  at  that  time  too 
confused  and  tumultuous  to  permit  it  to  notice  a  young  woman 
crossing  the  garden. 

M.  de  Lasteyrie  hoped  to  reach  the  Pont  Tournant  soon 
enough  to  despatch  the  Duchess  of  Montpensier  in  safety  with 
the  royal  family.  At  the  moment  of  leaving  the  gardens,  the 
carriage,  filled  and  hastily  closed  by  M.  Cremieux,  had  started 
at  a  gallop,  leaving  the  Princess  Clementine  abandoned,  astray, 
and  unable  either  to  follow  on  or  return  to  the  square.  For- 
tunately, she  perceived  M.  de  Lasteyrie  and  the  Duchess  of 
Montpensier,  her  sister-in-law,  and  joined  this  remnant  of  her 
family. 

M.  de  Lasteyrie  carried  the  two  young  women  to  his  moth- 
er's, without  being  either  recognized  or  questioned  on  his  road. 
This  family,  doubly  popular,  from  the  nam.e  of  Lafayette  and 
the  virtues  of  Madame  de  Lasteyrie,  his  daughter,  was  an  asy- 
lum inviolable  to  the  suspicions  and  search  of  the  people.  In 
a  few  minutes  the  Princess  Clementine  came  out  and  joined 
her  father  at  Trianon.     The  young  Duchess  of  Montpensier 


48  HISTORY    OF    THE 

remained  till  the  25tli,  at  the  hearth  and  under  the  protection 
of  Madame  de  Lastejnrie.  Her  husband  had  sent  her  word 
from  Dreux,  by  General  Thierrj'-,  his  aide-de-camp,  to  join  him 
at  the  chateau  d'Eu.  He  thought  the  king  might  go  there, 
and  make  it  his  residence.  The  rapidity  of  fortune  had  out- 
stripped him  even  on  the  road  of  this  exile.  He  was  wander- 
ing on  the  shore  of  the  ocean. 

vni. 

On  reaching  Eu,  the  young  princess  alighted  at  the  chateau, 
and  found  it  empty. 

Alarming  rumors  announced  the  arrival  of  a  column  of 
working-men  from  Kouen,  who,  it  was  said,  had  come,  as  at 
Neuilly,  to  lay  waste  the  dwelling  of  the  king.  The  duchess 
left  her  father's  palace,  and  asked  shelter  of  M.  Estancelin,  a 
diplomatist  attached  to  the  embassy  of  Munich.  At  nightfall 
she  left  again  for  Belgium,  accompanied  by  j\I.  Estancelin  and 
General  Thierrj'.     They  went  towards  Brussels. 

At  Abbeville  the  passage  of  a  carriage  attracted  attention, 
and  drew  together  a  crowd.  The  horses  were  stopped,  and 
the  cry  was  that  the  princes  were  escaping.  M.  Estancelin 
showed  himself  at  the  coach  window.  He  was  known  by  name 
in  the  country.  He  asserted  that  the  princess  was  his  wife, 
AAHth  whom  he  was  returning  to  his  post  abroad.  The  more 
completely  to  obv^iate  suspicion,  he  ordered  the  coachman  to 
drive  the  carriage  to  one  of  his  friends,  whose  republican  opin- 
ions were  a  guarantee  with  the  people.  He  alighted  at  the 
door  of  this  friend,  and  confided  to  him,  in  a  low  tone,  the 
name,  rank,  and  flight,  of  the  young  woman.  The  weak 
or  cold-hearted  man  trembled,  or  hardened  himself.  He 
feared  that  the  discover}'  of  this  mystery  would  render  him 
unpopular,  or  compromise  his  life.  In  A'ain  did  General 
Thierr}'  and  M.  Estancelin  urge,  beg,  supplicate,  and  repre- 
sent to  him  the  age,  sex,  delicate  situation,  and  position  of 
a  woman,  whom  his  refusal  might  give  up  to  the  disturbance 
of  an  insurrection,  the  fright  of  a  captivity,  or  the  hazard  of  an 
impracticable  flight  on  foot.  Fear  is  deaf.  Egotism  is  im- 
placable. 

The  travellers,  seeing  some  of  the  populace  collecting  round 
the  door,  got  out  of  the  carriage,  leaving  it  empty  in  the  street, 
and  went  to  seek  another  refuge  a  little  further  off".  They 
separated.     M.  Estancelin  directed  General  Thierry  to  one  of 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S43.  49 

the  city  gates.  It  was  agreed  that  the  general  should  pass  it 
with  the  duchess  ;  and  that,  after  having  thus  left  the  city  with 
his  trust,  he  should  wait  by  the  side  of  the  road  to  Belgium 
for  the  carriage,  which  M.  Estancelin  would  bring  between 
eleven  o'clock  and  midnight. 

]\I.  Estancelin  left  to  seek  means  of  procuring  horses  from 
other  friends.  General  Thierry  and  the  young  woman  wan- 
dered about  in  the  sleet  a]id  the  deepest  darkness,  in  an  un- 
known city.  The  wind  and  tempest  had  extinguished  the 
lamps.  They  almost  groped  their  way  in  the  direction  which 
had  been  pointed  out  to  them. 

After  many  mistakes  and  circuits,  they  finally  came  under  a 
gate  of  the  city,  in  the  process  of  construction,  whose  arch, 
scaffolded  and  surrounded  with  wood,  was  closed  up  on  the  side 
of  the  countr\\  They  turned  back,  and  glided  through  a  low 
and  narrow  side-door,  left  open  by  the  builders  for  the  ingress 
and  egress  of  foot-passengers.  They  tried  it,  and  thought 
themselves  clear  of  the  city. 

But  this  false  road,  channelled  by  the  rain  and  carts,  inun- 
dated with  pools  of  water,  encumbered  with  building  materials 
and  blocks  of  stone,  terminated  in  a  quarry  without  any  visible 
issue.  The  pregnant  young  woman  went  up  to  her  ankles  in 
the  mire,  and  lost  her  shoes  in  soft  clay.  The  general  was  in 
despair.  He  feared  that  the  excessive  fatigue  and  bad  weather 
would  kill  a  child  bearing  another  child  in  her  womb.  He 
made  the  princess  sit  down  upon  a  stone,  wrapped  her  in  his 
cloak,  and  told  her  to  wait  there  without  stirring,  while  he  went 
back  to  the  town  and  sought  from  chance  or  pity  a  roof  or  a 
guide. 

He  was  hesitating  to  knock  at  a  door,  fearing  that  it  might 
prove  a  snare  instead  of  a  place  of  safety  for  the  princess,  when 
an  unknown  friend  of  I\I.  Estancelin,  sent  by  this  young  man 
to  recover  and  guide  the  fugitives,  accosted  the  general,  made 
himself  kno\^m,  hastened  with  him  in  search  of  the  princess, 
conducted  the  fugitives  out  of  the  town,  and  placed  the  young 
woman  under  a  shed  attached  to  a  lime-kiln,  where  there  was 
no  fire, 

Thfre  General  Thierry  and  the  Duchess  of  Montpensier 
slowly  counted  the  hours.  It  was  not  long  before  the  carriage 
was  heard,  and  at  last  it  conveyed  the  Duchess  of  Montpensier 
towards  Brussels  and  her  husband. 

The  princess  had  been  as  courageous  as  a  heroine,  and 
thoughtless  as  a  child,  during  this  night  of  distress  and  anguish. 

VOL.  II.  5 


50  HI?  TORY    OF    THE 

General  Thierry  remarked,  for  the  purpose  of  raising  her  cour- 
age by  satisfying  at  least  a  romantic  imagination,  while  she 
was  vainly  looking  for  her  shoes  in  the  mud,  and  walking  with 
hare  feet  in  the  trench  :  "  What  strange  adventures  in  this 
horrible  night!"  —  "Oh,  yes!"  she  replied.  "Well,  I  like 
these  adventures  better  than  the  horrid  monotony  of  the  round 
work-table  in  the  hot  and  splendid  saloons  of  the  Tuileries." 

IX. 

The  Duke  of  Wurtemberg,  the  husband  of  the  Princess 
Marie,  mourned  by  the  arts  as  well  as  by  her  father's  court,  was 
the  last  prince  of  that  family  who  remained  at  Paris.  Lamartine 
sent  him  passports,  under  a  less  noted  name,  to  enable  him  to 
return  to  Germany. 

Such  was  the  emigration  of  this  family,  aggrandized  by  rev- 
olution, expelled  by  revolution,  returning  from  exile,  ascending 
the  throne,  and  again  voluntarily  expatiated.  No  imprecation 
followed  it  to  the  threshold  of  France.  Many  of  its  members 
bore  away  with  them  veneration,  others  esteem,  others  again 
hopes.  The  nation  remained  just  and  worthy  in  its  emancipa- 
tion. The  republic,  born  of  thought  and  not  of  anger,  was 
contented  to  succeed  the  kingdom  in  the  country.  It  proscribed 
neither  princes  nor  princesses  while  it  removed  the  throne.  It 
beheld,  from  afar  off,  the  moment  when  it  would  be  sufficiently 
incontestable  and  self-sustained  to  restore  their  portion  in  the 
country  to  those  who  claimed  nothing  from  it  but  the  position  of 
Frenchmen  and  citizens. 

The  confiscation  of  the  property  of  the  king,  the  princes,  and 
pnncesses,  was  at  that  time  often  proposed  by  unthinking 
republicans  who  besieged  the  provisional  government  with 
injunctions  and  counsels.  It  was  unanimously  repulsed.  The 
members  of  the  government  would  not  at  any  price  found  the 
republic  on  an  act  of  spoliation  and  injustice.  They  only  de- 
creed, as  an  alimentary  succor  to  the  working  people  in  want 
of  bread,  the  million  in  arrear  which  the  nation  paid  monthly 
to  royalty. 

As  for  the  pecuniary  situation  in  which  the  republic  would 
place  the  king  and  princes,  a  decree  was  postponed  to  the  mo- 
ment when  tranquillity  should  have  restored  all  its  coolness 
and  equity  to  the  people.  It  was  only  agreed  upon,  as  a  prin- 
ciple, that  the  personal  possessions  of  the  king  and  princes 
should  remain  their  inviolable  property ;  that  in  case  of  insuf- 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  51 

ficiency,  the  nation  should  make  the  exiled  kiig  an  allowance 
proportioned  to  liis  rank  and  the  wants  of  hi^  household ;  and 
tliat  in  case  of  excessive  personal  fortune  retained  on  French 
territory  by  the  king,  or  the  princes,  his  sons,  the  nation  should 
hold  them  in  guardianship,  during  the  first  years  of  the  founda- 
tion of  the  new  government;  that  it  should  set  apart  a  suitable 
proportion  of  the  revenues  for  the  princes,  and  invest  the  rest 
for  their  profit,  to  be  remitted  to  them  entire  as  soon  as  all  ex- 
citement of  civil  war  at  their  cost  should  be  demonstrated  im- 
possible ;  and  that,  finally,  the  nation  should  oflTer  the  Duchess 
of  Orleans  and  her  sons  a  subsidy  worthy  of  the  rank  they  had 
occupied  in  France,  and  the  sentiments  which  she  had  m- 
spired. 

A  man  of  universal  reputation,  M.  Lherbette,  an  old  memher 
of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  acceptable  at  once  to  the  nation 
and  to  royalty,  was  named  administrator  and  adjuster  of  this 
property.  M.  Lherbette  refused,  from  an  honorable  scruple. 
M.  Navin  was  entreated  to  accept.  Everj^  time  the  question 
was  reproduced  before  the  council,  it  was  treated  and  resolved 
upon  in  this  manner  by  the  majority  of  the  council.  It  was 
with  this  idea,  and  this  intermediate  arrangement,  that  the  gov- 
ernment waited  for  the  National  Assembly.  It  adopted  them 
by  giving  them  the  sanction  and  dignity  of  a  great  nation. 

Lamartine  frequently  settled,  in  this  manner,  questions  of 
the  private  property  of  the  princes  and  princesses,  with  the 
ministers  of  Spain  and  Brazil.  All  that  has  been  recounted 
on  the  other  side  of  the  channel,  touching  the  rapacity  and 
harshness  of  the  republic  to  the  king,  princes  and  princesses,  is 
calumny.  Such  were  the  proscriptions  and  the  spoliations  of 
the  first  government. 


The  fears  of  civil  war,  that  the  presence  of  the  Duke  of 
Aumale  at  the  head  of  the  army  in  Africa  left  upon  the  gen- 
eral mind,  were  soon  dispelled.  The  government  had  named 
General  Cavaignac  governor-general  of  Algeria.  The  name 
of  Cavaignac  was  consecrated  with  the  republicans  by  the  mem- 
ory of  the  eldest  brother  of  this  officer.  Godefroy  Cavaignac 
was  a  name  as  lofty  as  that  of  Carrel  in  republic  esteem.  He 
died  before  the  advent  of  his  idea  ;  his  idea  wore  his  mourning; 
it  rendered  him  homage  in  the  person  of  his  brother.  The 
brother  was  himself  an  officer  of  renoivn.     He  had  known  how 


5S 


HISTORY   OF   THE 


to  merit  the  confidence  of  the  army  by  his  vtlor;  and  without 
repudiating  the  traditions  of  his  brother,  and  the  aspirations 
of  his  mother  for  the  republic,  he  had  gained  the  esteem  and 
confidence  of  the  princes.  The  frankness  of  his  opinions  pro- 
tected him  :  frankness  does  not  conspire ;  he  was  incapable  of 
*reachery.  The  Duke  of  Aumale,  upon  learning  the  abdica- 
tion of  his  father,  gave  to  his  army  a  proclamation  and  an  ad- 
dress worthy  of  the  early  days  of  the  first  republic,  when  each 
man  effaced  himself  before  his  country. 

"  Inhabitants  of  Algekia  : 

"  Faithful  to  my  duties  as  a  citizen  and  a  soldier,  I  remained 
at  my  post  so  long  as  I  could  believe  my  presence  useful  to  the 
service  of  the  country.  That  situation  no  longer  exists.  General 
Cavaignac  has  been  nominated  the  governor-general  of  Algeria. 
Until  his  arrival  at  Algiers,  the  functions  of  governor-general 
of  Algeria  will  be  fulfilled  by  General  Changarnier. 

"  Submissive  to  the  national  will,  I  depart ;  but  from  the  depths 
of  exile,  all  my  wishes  will  be  for  your  prosperity,  and  the  glory 
of  France,  whom  I  should  have  wished  to  serve  for  a  longer 
time.  H.  D'Orleans." 

"  General  Changarnier  will  fulfil  the  functions  of  governor- 
general,  during  the  interval  which  may  elapse  before  the  arrival 
at  Algiers  of  General  Cavaignac,  who  has  been  appointed 
governor-general  of  Algeria.  In  separating  myself  from  an 
\rmy,  the  model  of  honor  and  of  courage,  in  whose  ranks  I 
have  passed  the  best  days  of  my  life,  I  can  but  wish  it  new 
successes  :  a  new  career  will  be  perhaps  opened  for  its  valor ;  it 
will  fulfil  it  gloriously,  I  have  the  firm  belief. 

"  Officers,  subalterns,  and  soldiers  !  I  had  hoped  to  fight  again 
with  you  for  the  country.  That  honor  has  been  refused  me  ; 
but  from  the  depths  of  exile  my  heart  will  follow  you  every- 
where, and  recollecting  the  national  will,  it  will  triumph  in 
your  successes,  and  all  its  wishes  will  ever  be  for  the  glory  and 
happiness  of  France.  H.  D'Orleans." 


XL 

Public  opinion,  reassured  on  this  point,  was  more  and  more 
disquieted  respecting  our  finances.  They  shuddered  at  that 
assembly  of  men  receiving  salaries  at  the  Luxembourg.  It  was 
a  danger,  without  doubt.     But  history  will  be  grateful  for  it. 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S43.  53 

The  eloquence  and  intervention  of  Louis  Blanc,  powerful,  from 
principles,  over  two  hundred  thousand  workmen,  had,  at  the 
same  time,  a  moderating  influence  over  the  passions  of  the 
people.  He  presented  them  with  false  systems,  but  he  did  not 
preach  to  them  evil  sentiments.  He  had  morbid  and  exacrsrer- 
ated  hopes  in  his  theories  ;  he  had  nothing-  of  vengeance.  He 
promised  chimeras,  but  he  did  not  offer  either  disorder,  or  vio- 
lence, or  blood.  The  Luxembourg,  under  his  guidance,  con- 
tributed greatly  to  intimidate  capital ;  but  it  contributed  also 
to  maintain  order,  to  prevent  confiscations,  to  make  war  unpop- 
ular, and  to  cause  the  instinct  of  humanity  to  prevail  among 
the  masses.  A  false  idea  may  be  sincere,  and  that  which  is 
sincere  does  not  become  useless  from  being  allied  to  errors  in 
industry.  Such  was,  at  the  beginning,  the  character  of  the 
instructions  of  Louis  Blanc  at  the  Luxembourg. 

XIL 

The  other  members  of  the  government  supported  this  assem- 
bly, as  an  evil,  without  doubt,  but  as  an  inevitable  evil,  and 
one  which  would  produce  a  much  greater  good.  Louis  Blanc, 
thrown  out  of  the  government,  expelled  from  the  Luxembourg-, 
and  become,  by  this  persecution,  the  very  idol  and  the  eloquent 
Masaniello  of  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  worlcmen  out  of 
employment,  and  rendered  fanatical  in  Paris,  would  have  been 
a  much  more  dangerous  element  of  trouble  than  Louis  Blanc 
discoursing  at  the  Luxembourg,  constrained  by  his  union  with 
the  government,  and  restraining  these  masses  in  a  fantastic 
circle,  from  which  he  did  not  allow  them  to  depart.  One  could 
not  yield  less  to  the  workmen,  the  soldiers  of  this  revolution, 
made  in  the  name  of  labor,  than  a  sincere  and  free  inquiry 
upon  the  questions  of  labor,  which  were  their  policy  and  their 
life. 

However,  in  order  to  prevent  the  panic,  which  increased 
every  hour,  they  planned  measures  to  reassure  capital,  labor, 
and  credit.  They  replied  to  the  word  bankruptcy,  which  had 
been  publicly  spoken,  by  a  decree  which  anticipated,  for  some 
weeks,  the  payment  of  the  revenue  due  to  the  creditors  of  the 
state.  This  was  to  answer,  by  a  fact,  to  these  suppositions  of 
ruin.  It  was  a  defiance  thrown  to  distrust.  This  measure 
did  not  suffice  to  reassure  troubled  imaginations.  The  bank- 
ers saw  in  it  only  a  bravado  to  disguise  fear.  They  calcu- 
lated that  after  the   revenue  was   paid  there  would    remain 

VOL.  II.  5=**= 


PSZ 


54  HISTORY    OF   THE 

nothing  in  the  treasury.  The  distrust  was  spread  abroad ; 
silver  was  drawn  in.  The  seven  hundred  miUions,  which  the 
state  owed  to  the  saving-  banks,  to  the  holders  of  treasury- 
bonds,  and  for  public  services,  weighed  upon  the  minister  of 
the  finances.  He  discerned  the  sinister  events  to  which  he 
shuddered  to  affix  his  name.  Garnier  Pages  had  assumed  the 
burden  of  the  ministry  of  finances.  He  did  not  conceal  from 
himself  the  extremity  of  the  danger.  He  yielded  less  to  the 
urgency  of  his  colleagues  than  to  the  impulse  of  his  own 
courage.  He  is  one  of  those  men  whom  peril  tempts,  and 
who  become  great  with  crises.  He  devoted  to  the  task  his 
labor,  his  name,  and  his  hfe.  He  chose,  as  his  assistant,  Du- 
clerc,  as  courageous  and  indefatigable  as  himself. 

XIII. 

The  finances  were  fathomed  in  a  few  hours  by  these  two 
men.  They  regained  confidence,  and  inspired  it  in  the  gov- 
ernment. Before  the  eighth  of  March,  Garnier  Pages  ex- 
posed before  the  council  all  the  wounds  and  all  the  remedies 
of  the  situation. 

France  was  more  aggrieved  by  fifteen  years  of  peace  than 
she  would  have  been  by  a  long  war.  The  finances  were  bur- 
dened to  such  a  degree  as  to  take  away  all  liberty  of  action 
from  the  country,  if  great  and  extraordinary  emergencies  had 
unexpectedly  occurred.  Royalty  had  formed  its  financial  sys- 
tem after  its  own  image.  AH  was  prepared  for  a  long  peace. 
This  system,  good  in  its  design,  had  its  excess  in  innumerable 
industrial  shares  of  stock,  fictitious  money,  which  loaded  the 
portfolios  of  private  men  and  bankers,  which  only  represented 
supposed  capitals,  which  returned  no  revenues,  and  which 
served  for  the  gambling  of  stock-jobbing.  They  amounted,  at 
least,  to  the  value  of  two  thousand  millions.  These  shares  of 
stock  had  vanished,  or  laid  inactive  in  the  coffers  of  the  indus- 
trials, or  of  the  undertakers  of  the  great  public  works.  The 
necessary  sums  for  the  supply  of  a  year,  as  estimated  in  the 
budget,  amounted  to  seventeen  hundred  and  twelve  millions ; 
five  hundred  and  fourteen  millions  were  promised  and  due  for 
the  works  in  course  of  execution.  The  established  public  debt 
amounted  to  five  thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy-nine  mil- 
lions. This  debt  had  increased  nine  hundred  millions  in  seven 
years.  Royalty  had  been  prodigal  of  the  future.  The  repub^ 
lie  was  about  to  be  'joaded  with  the  weight,  the  responsibility, 


REVOLUMON   OF   1848.  55 

ftnd  unpopularit}',  of  a  liquidation  which  did  not  at  all  belonj^ 
to  it.  Neither  the  debt  nor  the  revolution  were  the  acts  of 
those  who  must  bear  their  odium.  Royalty  incurred  the  debt, 
and  its  ministers  allowed  the  revolution. 

But,  besides  this  budget  of  seventeen  hundred  millions, 
these  works  contracted  for  at  five  hvmdred  millions,  these  two 
thousand  millions  of  industrial  shares  of  stocks  thrown  upon 
the  Bourse  by  the  government,  and  these  five  thousand  mil- 
lions of  capital  debt,  royalty  left  nine  hundred  and  sixxy  mil- 
lions of  debt,  shortly  to  fall  due,  or  payable  in  three  hundred 
and  twenty-five  millions  of  treasury  bonds  and  the  funds  of 
the  saving-banks,  a  simple  deposit  in  their  hands. 

The  treasury  must  then  face  at  once  a  thousand  millions  of 
funds  due,  besides  seventy-three  millions  to  pay  the  six  months' 
income,  due  on  the  twenty-second  of  March ;  besides,  the  ex- 
penses of  the  ordinary  services  and  sudden  incidents  of  a  coun- 
try in  revolution,  and,  perhaps,  at  war  with  itself  and  with 
Europe. 

The  Bank  of  France,  an  independent  instrument  of  credit 
and  temporary  resources  for  the  government,  had  itself  failed 
in  cash  a  few  months  before.  It  was  only  a  little  revived  by 
the  payment  of  fifty  millions  in  specie,  come  from  Russia. 
The  bill  of  exchange,  which  supplies  an  incalculable  amount 
of  cash  among  individuals,  was  withdrawn,  suspended,  or 
destroyed,  at  the  same  moment,  from  the  fear  of  a  general 
settlement.  So  that  cash  alone,  and  in  the  sole  hands  of  the 
government,  was  about  to  supply,  without  assistance,  all  the 
life  and  circulation  of  the  country.  By  a  coincidence  yet 
more  unfortunate,  this  crisis  was  the  same  throughout  Europe. 
AflJairs  were  complicated  from  St.  Petersburg  to  London,  Vienna, 
Berlin,  and  Paris,  in  a  proportion  that  did  not  harmonize  with 
the  circulating  capital.  Gold  and  silver  were  wanting,  and 
paper  was  good  for  nothing. 

XIV. 

The  problem  presented  by  such  an  accumulation  of  distress 
to  a  revolutionary  government,  which  had  at  once  to  support  a 
people  of  workmen,  to  recruit  and  equip  an  army,  to  face  ex- 
tinguished credit,  miser}?-,  the  poor,  order  at  home  and  war 
abroad,  and  alone  to  reestablish  money,  credit,  industry  and 
labor,  withtrut  having  recourse  to  the  exactions  and  cruelties 


56  HISTORY    OF    THE 

of  revolutions :  —  (his  problem  was  of  a  nature  to  make  the  most 
intrepid  men  grow  pale  and  fly. 

Gamier  Pages  met  it  with  that  resolution  which  works  mir- 
acles, since  it  dares  to  hope  for  tk^m  when  every  one  believes 
them  impossible.  He  had,  like  his  colleagues,  faith  in  virtue, 
and  providence  recompensed  him  for  it.  He  conceived  by  in- 
spiration the  only  plan  which  could  save  the  republic  from 
bankruptcy.  If  some  details  were  wanting,  or  if  some  meas- 
ures failed  in  the  execution  of  this  plan,  taken  as  a  whole,  it 
was  as  logical  as  bold. 

Above  all,  the  government  had  need  of  silver.  It  had  but 
three  means  to  obtain  it :  —  credit,  paper  money,  or  exactions. 
Exactions  would  produce  blood  at  the  first  resistance.  The 
government  wished,  at  any  cost,  to  live  and  die  pure.  Assign- 
ats  would  cause  a  general  panic,  and  the  disappearance  of  the 
last  crown.  To  issue  them  would  require  punishment.  To 
punish,  in  a  revolution,  is  to  proscribe ;  to  confiscate,  is  to  kill. 
The  majority  of  the  government  was  always  inflexibly  opposed 
to  proposals  of  assignats.  There  remained,  then,  only  the  alter- 
native^ of  credit ;  but  the  revolution  had  taken  it  from  the  gov- 
ernment. It  must  be  found  again  in  an  independent  institution, 
which  should  become,  so  to  speak,  its  surety  before  France.  This 
institution,  yet  very  weak  in  proportion  to  the  part  which  they 
desired  it  to  play,  existed  in  the  Bank  of  France.  There  were 
two  modes  by  which  it  might  be  used.  To  constrain  it,  or  to 
protect  it.  Some  wished  to  constrain  it.  It  was  decided  to 
protect  it. 

Garnier  Pages  three  times  saved  the  Bank  of  France. 
First,  by  obstinately  refusing  the  merchants  of  Paris  a  three 
months'  suspension  of  their  engagements  towards  the  bank ; 
then  by  refusing  the  paper  money,  which  would  have  destroyed 
the  bank ;  and,  lastly,  by  taking  the  bold  but  fortunate  measure 
of  authorizing  the  forced  acceptance  of  the  bills  of  the  bank  as 
silver.  The  bank,  thus  saved,  saved  in  its  turn  the  govern- 
ment. It  loaned  it  two  hundred  and  thirty  millions.  It  allied 
itself,  with  intelligence  and  patriotism,  to  the  government.  M. 
d'Argoult,  director  of  the  bank,  forgot  his  old  attachment  to 
fallen  royalty,  to  devote  himself  exclusively  to  the  financial 
safety  of  his  country.  He  was  at  once  a  man  of  the  bank 
and  a  man  of  the  treasury.  He  showed  himself  truly  a  pa- 
triot and  a  statesman,  by  his  intrepidity  in  distress,  and  by  the 
fruitfulness  of  his  resources  in  difficulties.  The  bank  was  be- 
fore only  useful  to  :ommerce  ;  it  became  useful  to  the  country. 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848. 


57 


It  had  received  only  the  esteem,  and  sometimes  the  envy,  of 
public  opinion.  It  deserved  the  gratitude  of  the  nation.  The 
provisional  gov.srnnient  did  not  hesitate,  under  the  direction  of 
Gamier  Pages,  to  establish  and  nationalize  the  other  banks  of 
the  republic  by  the  central  credit  of  the  Bank  of  France. 


XV. 

But  although  the  bank,  thus  protected  and  centralized,  could 
lend  to  the  government  by  hundreds  of  millions,  it  required  a 
secure  mortgage.  This  mortgage  gave  the  assurance  that  the 
treasury,  unexpectedly  emptied,  would  be  filled  anew.  The 
territorial  taxes  were  well  paid.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  tax- 
payers even  anticipated  its  payment.  Every  one  came  to  the 
assistance  of  the  good  intentions  of  the  government,  to  take 
from  it  the  temptation  or  the  necessity  of  having  recourse  to 
extreme  revolutionary  measures.  The  curates  preached  the 
payment  of  the  tax,  as  a  public  virtue.  The  rich  paid  their 
year's  contribution  in  advance.  The  poor  brought  in  their 
twelfths.  The  offices  for  the  collection  of  taxes  were  crowded 
by  those  who  paid,  as  they  would  have  been  by  those  who  ex- 
pected to  receive.  There  was  an  emulation  to  pay,  so  preva- 
lent was  the  feeling  that  there  was  danger  in  the  emptiness  of 
the  treasury. 

A  national  loan,  from  the  enthusiasm  of  the  moment,  and 
for  the  public  safety,  was  possible,  and  would  have  been  pro- 
ductive, during  this  first  outbreak  of  public  spirit.  Many 
members  of  the  government  demanded  it,  with  the  impatience 
of  the  hour  which  escaped  Gamier  Pages.  Considerations  of 
public  credit  prevented  him  from  consenting  to  promulgate  this 
measure.  The  moment  passed,  and  the  fire  of  zeal  was  ex- 
tinguished. They  limited  themselves  to  paying  the  tax.  This 
was  a  fault  of  the  government. 

But  the  indirect  imposts,  immediate  and  daily  products  of 
consumption  and  production,  failed.  The  army  demanded  a 
prompt  and  burdensome  reorganization.  The  treasury  might 
be  found  unprovided,  and  thus  expose  the  country  itself.  The 
constantly  increasing  relief  required  to  give  the  workmen, 
without  wages,  and  consequently  without  bread ;  the  pay  and 
equipment  of  the  Guard  Mobile  ;  banks  of  discount  to  be  estab- 
lished in  all  the  manufacturing  towns;  loans  of  specie  to  be 
made  to  the  great  centres  of  industry ;  the  public  works  to  be 
maintained  in  a  certain  proportion,  to  prevent  the   overflow 


58  HISTORY   OF    THE 

of  laborers  out  of  employment  in  the  departments  ;  the  navy, 
foreign  affairs,  the  elections,  justice ;  in  fine,  the  internal  ad- 
ministration, whose  agents  could  not  be  allowed  to  suffer,  gave 
glimpses  of  the  ill-boding  event  of  an  emptiness  of  the  treas- 
ury. A  single  day  of  want  of  resources  would  have  been  the 
signal  for  a  general  catastrophe.  The  functionaries  and  the 
capitalists  might  wait ;  hunger  could  not  be  put  off.  Six  mil- 
lions of  workmen  lived  by  public  assistance.  A  day's  delay 
of  their  wages  would  be  the  signal  of  a  vast  sedition  of  de- 
spair and  famine.     It  was  necessary  to  foresee  and  provide. 

The  government,  resolved  to  avoid  bankruptcy  at  any  cost, 
had  to  choose  between  the  creation  of  a  paper  currency,  or  an 
additional  tax  to  meet  the  crisis,  as  in  1815  and  in  1S30. 
They  were  striving  to  save  property.  It  was  for  property  to 
contribute  to  save  itself.  Assignats  would  lose,  perhaps  on  the 
very  morning  of  their  emission,  one  half  their  value.  Silver, 
for  which  they  would  wish  to  change  them,  would  disappear. 
The  price  of  commodities  would  rise  in  proportion  to  the  dis- 
credit of  the  assignats.  It  would  be  necessary  to  create  the 
maximum,  to  bring  these  commodities  within  the  power  of 
the  poor.  The  maximum  produces  scarcity  ;  scarcity,  despair  ; 
and  despair,  crimes.  We  should  come  in  fifteen  days  to  assas- 
sinations and  to  scaffolds. 

There  remained,  then,  the  land-tax,  which  assumed  all  the 
burdens,  as  it  assumed  all  riches,  during  moments  when  all 
conventional  value  disappeared. 

Garnier  Pages  and  the  government  determined  to  levy  an 
additional  land-tax  of  forty-five  centimes  above  all  duties. 
This  impost  made  proprietors  complain,  but  saved  them.  It 
preserved  the  destitute  from  famine,  labor  from  stagnation, 
the  treasury  from  deficit,  the  great  industrial  towns  from  the 
seditions  rising  from  the  want  of  employment  and  misery,  the 
country,  in  fine,  from  external  dangers,  by  allowing  the  govern- 
ment to  sustain  credit,  to  establish  banks  of  discount  wherever 
important  towns  required  them,  to  enroll  in  the  Guard  Mobile 
the  most  turbulent  superfluity  of  the  young  population  of  Paris, 
to  strengthen  the  army,  to  supply  its  pay,  to  support  a  million 
of  indigent  workmen,  to  calm  the  excitement  against  the  rich, 
and  the  muramrs  against  the  selfishness  of  property,  to  sup- 
press the  duty  upon  stamps,  to  abolish  almost  immediately  the 
tax  upon  salt,  to  reduce  the  tolls  levied  upon  provisions  on  their 
entrance  into  Paris,  and  to  take  away  one  half  of  the  tax 
which  was  imposed  on  wines  for  the  benefit  of  the  city  of 


BE  VOLUTION    OP    1348. 


59 


Paris.  This  impost  would  bring'  into  the  treasury  one  hundred 
and  ninety  millions,  if  it  should  be  distributed  without  indul- 
gence, and  gathered  from  the  whole  body  of  tax-payers.  The 
government  authorized  the  receivers  to  estimate,  with  justice, 
the  powers  of  contribution  of  the  small  proprietors,  and  only 
to  exact  payment  from  the  rich.  This  conduct,  commanded 
by  justice  as  well  as  policy,  reduced  the  product  to  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  or  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions.  These  one 
hundred  and  fifty  millions,  and  the  two  hundred  and  thirty 
millions  advanced  by  the  bank  upon  pledge  of  the  state  for- 
ests, sufficed  for  all,  and  still  left  in  the  coffers  the  sums  neces- 
sary to  cover  all  the  ordinary  and  extraordinary  expenses  of 
1848,  while  using  a  million  a  day  for  the  wages  of  unem- 
ployed hands.  Such  was  the  price  of  a  revolution.  None 
ever  cost  less  dearly  to  a  people.  And  yet  this  tax  of  pru- 
dence, of  safety,  of  credit,  of  labor  and  assistance  to  a  suffer- 
ing people,  —  this  tax  which  interposed  between  bankruptcy  and 
the  republic,  between  property  and  destitution,  between  the 
country  and  the  foreigner,  between  the  lives  of  the  citizens 
and  the  violence  of  a  dearth,  —  excited,  at  a  later  period,  as  many 
murmurs  as  if  government  had  violated  property,  pillaged 
fortune,  and  ruined  the  landed  interest.  The  rich,  whom  this 
tax  had  saved,  the  poor,  whom  it  had  rescued  from  oppression, 
the  destitute,  who  had  consumed  it  in  alms,  united  in  a  com- 
mon malediction.  The  people  of  Paris  roused  themselves,  not 
against  the  overcharges,  but  against  the  mitigation,  of  the  du- 
ties for  their  profit  on  provisions  and  wine.  History  will  judge 
the  selfishness  of  proprietors,  and  the  ingratitude  of  the  desti- 
tute. It  will  proclaim  the  truth  :  it  is  that  the  tax  of  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  million,  by  the  forty-five  centimes,  was  at  once 
the  necessity,  the  prudence,  the  peace,  and  the  safety  of  the 
republic.  France  will  blush  vv^hen  she  compares  this  price 
with  that  which  the  first  republic,  the  empire,  the  restoration, 
the  invasion  of  Bonaparte  in  1S15,  the  second  restoration,  and 
the  revolution  of  1830,  cost  France  in  gold  and  in  blood. 

XVI. 

Gamier  Pages,  to  crow^n  his  plan,  projected  the  purchase 
of  all  the  railroads  of  the  state.  The  shares  of  stock  in 
these  railroads  had  fallen  to  prices  ruinous  for  the  companies 
who  owned  them.  The  buying  them,  after  examining  their 
accounts,  at  equitable  prices,  raised  their  value  in  a  moment, 


J 


60  HISTORY    OF   THE 

by  the  guarantee  of  the  state,  and  put  at  once  in  circula- 
tion a  dead  or  discredited  property.  It  thus  restored  a  for- 
tune to  individuals,  in  place  of  a  fiction  in  their  portfolios.  It 
finished  the  lines,  it  rented  the  works  ;  in  fine,  it  made  a  loan 
of  a  thousand  millions,  secured  by  a  mortgage,  running  many 
years,  upon  this  value  of  three  or  four  thousand  millions. 

Some  companies  themselves  demanded,  with  urgency,  from 
the  government,  this  measure,  which  assured  their  safety, 
while  others  accused  it  of  spoliation,  in  order  to  raise  the  price 
of  the  purchase.  Lamartine  used  every  effort  to  urge  forward 
the  execution  of  this  measure,  which  was  too  long  suspended 
by  the  difficulties  met  with  in  procuring  the  consent  of  the 
companies.  He  too  well  foresaw  that  this  treaty  between  the 
companies  and  the  state,  possible  under  a  concentrated  and  dicta- 
torial government,  would  become  impracticable  with  a  sovereign 
assembly,  drawn  into  different  opinions  by  the  influence  of  the 
more  exacting  companies.  The  delay  incurred  in  this  affair 
was  the  only  fault  w^ith  which  he  constantly  reproached  the 
minister  of  finances. 

But  the  government,  which  was  thus  able  to  meet  the  pay- 
ment of  the  interests  of  the  debt,  and  for  the  public  service, 
could  not,  without  a  paper  currency,  pay,  at  the  approaching 
time  when  it  fell  due,  the  whole  of  the  seven  hundred  millions 
of  principal  of  the  floating  debt.  They  adjourned  the  reimburse- 
ment of  the  treasury  bonds,  and  those  of  the  saving-banks,  — 
sad  measures,  but  necessary,  and  mitigated  by  the  increase  of 
interest  in  the  hands  of  the  creditors,  and  by  partial  and  small 
payments  to  indigent  depositors. 

XVII. 

While  the  provisional  government  thus  saved  the  republic 
from  the  incalculable  consequences  of  a  bankruptcy,  the  minis- 
ter of  war  carried  out,  with  all  the  power  of  the  public  treasury, 
the  measures  adopted  to  strengthen  the  army,  in  proportion  to 
our  dangers  from  abroad. 

The  first  symptoms  of  want  of  discipline,  the  inevitable  re- 
sult of  the  temporary  anarchy  of  Paris  on  the  morning  of  the 
revolution,  vi^ere  quickly  repressed,  of  their  own  accord.  The 
soldiers,  for  a  moment  disbanded,  had  returned  to  their  regi- 
ments, and  had  voluntarily  submitted  to  that  yoke  of  discipline 
which  their  patriotism  made  a  duty,  and  their  honor  a  virtue. 
The  spirit  of  France  showed  itself  in  her  army.     The  revolu- 


A 


KEVOLTJTION    OF    ^48. 


61 


tionary  agitation  did  not  pass  the  threshold  of  the  harracks, 
Society  felt  that  it  had  need  of  its  force.  The  army  preserved 
it  untouched.  Scarcely  one  or  two  light  seditions,  suppressed 
as  soon  as  known,  afflicted  the  government,  in  one  or  two  regi- 
ments of  cavalry  and  artillery.  Some  inferior  officers  endeav- 
ored to  sow  insubordination  by  the  addresses  of  the  clubs. 
The  good  sense  of  the  soldiers,  the  impassibility  of  the  officers, 
the  energy  of  the  minister,  stifled  at  once  these  germs  of  mili- 
tary disorganization.  Never  did  a  national  army  present  a 
more  beautiful  model  of  calmness  in  the  midst  of  general  com- 
motion, of  reasonable  obedience  to  its  chiefs,  of  fidelity  to  its 
flag,  of  attachment  to  the  centre  of  power.  It  was  the  armed 
instinct  of  the  country.  These  four  months  of  incorruptibility 
during  disorder,  of  resignation  under  its  forced  absence  from 
Paris,  of  respect  for  its  chiefs,  of  repressed  impatience  on  the 
frontiers,  and  of  moderation  towards  the  people,  are  for  the 
French  army  one  of  the  most  glorious  campaigns  of  historj'. 
It  shows  how  much  the  liberty  and  education  poured  into  the 
bosom  of  our  rural  populations,  since  the  termination  of  the 
wars  of  the  empire,  have  changed  the  people,  for  the  army  is 
always  the  symptom  of  the  true  state  of  the  people.  When, 
after  a  commotion,  the  soldier  remains  a  soldier,  we  may  be 
sure  that  the  revolution  will  not  degenerate  into  anarchy. 

A  single  painful  symptom  saddened  the  soul  of  the  country, 
and  recalled  the  hideous  scenes  of  the  first  French  revolution. 
This  symptom  was  not  the  shame  of  the  active  army.  It 
broke  out  in  the  idleness  of  that  pompous  establishment  which 
Louis  XIV.  had  founded  for  the  veterans  of  war :  les  Invalides. 
It  is  just  and  glorious  for  a  nation  to  provide,  by  pensions  and 
retreats,  for  the  old  age  and  infirmities  of  those  who  have 
shed  their  blood  and  lost  their  limbs  for  it.  But  these  pen- 
sions, these  retreats,  and  these  honors,  ought  to  be  paid  at  the 
residence  and  in  the  family  of  the  invalid.  A  collection  of 
three  or  four  thousand  military  idlers,  under  a  discipline  neces- 
sarily mild,  in  a  centre  of  disorder  and  vice,  like  a  great  capital, 
is  a  pomp  for  the  country,  but  a  danger  for  manners,  for  order, 
and  military  rule.  An  administration  more  modest,  but  more 
truly  remunerating  military  service,  w^ould  dissolve  these  collec- 
tions of  idleness,  and  would  see  in  cottages  those  alms  now 
wasted  in  palaces. 

There  had  existed  for  a  longtime  in  the  Hotel  of  the  Invalides 
I  know  not  what  grievance,  perpetually  renewed,  respecting  the 

VOL.  u.  6 


r 


62  HISTORY   OF   THE 

food  of  the  soldier.  The  administration  was  accused  by  those 
dull  murmurs  which  precede  seditions. 

One  evening,  during  the  last  days  of  March,  Lamartine  had 
just  entered  the  Hotel  of  Foreign  Affairs,  after  a  sitting  of  nine 
hours  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  They  announced  to  him  that  a 
numerous  deputation  of  Invalides,  heated  by  anger  and  wine, 
had  presented  themselves  at  the  office  during  his  absence. 

These  men  had  posted  up,  in  violent  and  improper  terms, 
pretensions  irreconcilable  with  order  and  the  established  rule. 
They  had  retired  on  learning  the  absence  of  the  minister. 

Hardly  was  Lamartine  informed  of  this  rumor,  and  these 
menaces,  when  they  came  to  inform  him  of  the  insurrection  of 
the  Invalides.  Some  furious  men,  inflaming  their  comrades,  had 
forced  open  the  apartment  of  General  Petit.  General  Petit, 
lieutenant-governor  of  the  hotel,  a  brave  and  loyal  officer,  relic 
and  honor  of  the  old  French  army,  was  historically  celebrated 
by  the  embrace  he  had  received  from  Napoleon  in  the  tragic 
scene  of  the  adieus  at  Fontainebleau.  Without  respect  for 
this  souvenir,  for  his  white  hairs,  or  for  the  authority  of  the 
command,  this  group  of  seditious  men  had,  in  sight  of  three 
thousand  veterans,  silent  or  accomplices,  torn  the  old  general 
from  his  apartments.  They  had  dragged  him  into  the  court, 
and  bound  him,  like  a  criminal,  upon  a  cart.  They  went  out, 
accompanied  by  a  hideous  escort  of  those  men  and  women  of 
prey  who  present  or  follow  victims.  Two  or  three  Invalides, 
mounted  behind  the  cart,  with  drawn  swords  in  their  hands, 
addressed  imprecations  and  appeals  to  the  people.  They  went, 
they  said,  to  demand  justice  of  their  commandant  from  the 
government.  They  followed  the  quays  of  the  Seine.  There 
was  trembling  lest  a  nocturnal  crime  might  precipitate  the 
general  into  the  waves. 

XVIII. 

At  this  news,  Lamartine,  who  had  just  seated  himself  at 
table,  interrupted  his  repast.  He  did  not  wait  until  they  could 
bring  him  a  carriage.  He  ran  on  foot,  only  accompanied  by  a 
secretary,  towards  the  quays,  where  they  said  that  the  odious 
escort  was  to  be  met.  Resolved  to  interpose  between  these 
seditious  men  and  their  victim,  and  to  protect  with  his  person 
the  unfortunate  general,  he  shuddered  at  the  sinister  consequen- 
ces of  a  first  outrage.  He  was  indignant  at  this  first  example 
of  crime,  given  by  veterans,  to  a  people  thus  far  gentle  and 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  63 

humane,  whom  such  an  event  might  deprai*.  He  mformed 
himself  at  all  the  posts,  and  from  all  the  passers  by,  of  the 
direction  followed  by  the  cart.  He  sent  t>  notify  General 
Duvivier,  commandant  of  the  Guard  Mobile,  and  the  staff  of 
the  National  Guard.  He  pursued  his  course,  under  a  driving 
rain,  upon  the  route  of  the  cart,  which  the  confused  information 
he  had  received  made  him  often  lose  and  find  again.  Arrived 
at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  he  interrogated  in  vain  M.  Marrast.  He 
went  to  tlie  prefecture  of  police.  M.  Caussididre  knew  nothing 
of  the  matter.  He  resumed  his  course  by  the  quays,  with  inex- 
pressible anguish.  He  trembled  lest  the  crime  should  have 
been  accomplished  in  the  shade,  on  some  remote  bank  of  the 
Seine.  He  learnt,  in  fine,  that  the  unfortunate  gsneral,  torn 
from  the  seditious  upon  the  route  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  by 
General  Courvais,  had  received  an  asylum  for  the  night  at 
the  quarters  of  the  staff,  in  the  square,  and  that  his  life  was 
in  safety. 

At  night,  the  government,  seized  with  hon'or,  deliberated 
respecting  the  consequences  and  the  mode  of  punishing  this 
outrage.  The  National  Guard,  while  waiting  its  reorganiza- 
tion, only  existed  in  its  staff,  in  the  mere  fra:ne-work  of  its 
corps,  and  in  some  good  citizen-volunteers,  i  'ho  rushed  of 
their  own  accord  to  meet  the  danger.  There  ware  no  troops  at 
Paris.  To  leave  such  a  crime  unpunished,  was  to  abandon  the 
reins  of  the  army,  to  sanction  want  of  disciplinfc  and  sedition, 
from  want  of  power  to  arrest  the  guilty.  To  arrest  them  in  the 
midst  of  three  thousand  men,  who  had  cannon,  was  to  attempt 
an  impossibility,  and  to  expose  themselves  to  see  the  authority 
of  government  broken,  with  scandal,  in  their  haniis.  This  last 
course,  although  desperate,  was,  however,  that  of  honor  and 
duty  ;  the  government  chose  it. 

The  minister  of  war,  ]M.  Arago,  General  Courfcris,  and  M. 
Guinard,  chief  of  the  staff  of  the  National  Guaid,  charged 
themselves  to  execute  it.  They  assembled,  on  the  morning, 
some  men  of  strong  hearts,  surrounded  by  General  Petit,  and 
went  to  the  Champs  de  Mars,  where  two  or  three  thousand  men 
of  the  national  workshops  were  employed.  M.  Arago  and 
General  Courtais  harangued  these  workmen,  recounted  to  them 
the  outrages  to  which  the  living  relic  of  our  glory  had  been 
subjected,  on  the  part  of  that  undisciplined  soldiery,  and  made 
them  feel  the  necessity  of  lending  their  aid  to  the  government 
against  the  insults  which  would  dishonor  the  nation  and  de- 
stroy the  army.    Feeling  and  reason  spoke  then  strongly  to  the 


64 


HISTORT    OF   THE 


heart  of  the  people.  The  ■wo::kmen  cried  :  Vive  le  general ! 
Vive  Arago  !  Vive  Courtais  !  They  offered  to  go  themselves, 
and  force  reparation  and  obedience  from  these  unworthy  soldiers. 
MM.  Arago,  Courtais,  and  Guinard,  entered  at  the  head  of 
these  men  into  the  court  of  the  hotel,  called  together  the  Inva- 
]ides,  represented  to  them  their  shame  and  their  crime,  caused 
the  principal  culprits  to  be  seized  and  imprisoned,  without 
resistance,  and  reinstated  General  Petit,  in  the  midst  of  accla- 
mations of  repentance  and  enthusiasm. 

This  act,  and  two  or  three  others  of  the  same  vigor,  accom- 
plished by  General  Courtais  or  M.  Arago,  consolidated  the 
army,  and  stopped  every  attempt  at  disorganization  in  the  corps. 
These  two  ministers,  by  not  doubting  their  own  authority,  had 
rendered  it  henceforth  unquestionable.  The  army,  on  its 
part,  rendered  justice  to  the  government.  It  did  not  suffer  any 
inquisition  over  the  opinions  of  its  officers;  it  adopted,  in  the 
name  of  the  republic,  all  who  served  the  country. 

They  had  just  added  the  office  of  minister  of  war  to  that 
of  the  marine,  in  the  hands  of  M.  Arago.  This  act  of  govern- 
ment was  a  mark  of  deference  and  well-merited  confidence 
towards  M.  Arago,  an  injustice  to  General  Subervie,  and  a  sur- 
prise practised  on  some  members  of  the  government.  Let  us 
see  how  this  change  took  place. 

For  some  days  vague  complaints  had  been  made  against  the 
minister  of  war.  They  supposed  that  the  old  age  of  General 
Subervie  weighed  upon  his  activity ;  they  feigned,  at  least,  to 
believe  it,  for  General  Subervie  had  revived  for  the  republic 
the  fire  of  his  youth.  The  true  motive  was,  rather,  that  the 
new  army  was  desirous  of  repudiating  the  veterans  of  the  old 
army.  The  young  officers  of  Africa  wished,  perhaps  without 
avowing  it,  to  take  the  predominant  and  exclusive  authority  in 
the  office  of  the  minister  of  war,  which  they  hoped  they  would 
more  completely  retain  under  a  minister  who  was  a  stranger 
to  the  army  than  under  an  old  general  of  the  republic  and  the 
empire. 

For  some  time  the  generals,  assembled  in  a  council  of  de- 
fence, affected  to  deliberate  without  the  minister  of  war,  and 
to  communicate  directly,  and  without  his  intermediation,  with 
the  government.  Some  articles  in  the  Natio?ial,  a  journal 
which  was  wrongfully  considered  the  organ  of  government, 
had  just  unexpectedly  attacked  the  minister  of  war,  and  repre- 
sented him  as  worn  out  or  overwhelmed  by  the  disproportion- 
ate weight  of  his  age.     These  articles  appeared  to  reveal  the 


EEVOLUTION    OF    1843.  65 

first  threads  of  a  conspiracy,  plotted  in  the  very  bosom  of  the 
government,  against  General  Subervie.  There  was  nothing  in 
it ;  but  the  position  of  the  minister  appeared  enfeebled  by  the 
suspicion  alone.  He  was  justly  wounded  at  an  opposition 
which  appeared  to  have  accomplices  in  the  government  itself. 
He  complained  of  it  once  or  twice  to  Lamartine,  who  endeav- 
ored to  reassure  him,  and  determined  to  support  him.  An 
incomplete  session  of  the  government,  at  which  neither  La- 
martine, nor  Flocon,  nor  Ledru  Rollin,  nor  several  other  min- 
isters, were  present,  caused  the  opinion  of  the  National,  and 
the  soldiers  opposed  to  Subervie,  to  prevail.  That  general  was 
removed,  and  M.  Arago  received  the  provisional  ministry  of 
war.  He  was  far  from  desiring  it ;  he  even  resisted  for  a  long 
time  this  double  burden. 

Lamartine  received  a  visit  from  General  Subervie  at  six 
o'clock  in  the  evenmg,  on  his  return  from  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 
where  he  had  passed  the  day.  The  general  informed  him  of 
what  had  just  passed  at  the  Luxembourg.  "  You  see,"  said  he 
to  him,  "  that  my  suspicions  were  well  founded,  and  that  they 
only  waited  your  absence,  and  that  of  some  of  your  colleagues, 
to  execute  the  proscription  of  the  Natiovul  and  its  friends." 
"It  is  nothing,  in  fact,"  replied  Lamartine.  ^'  An  act  so  im- 
portant as  the  removal  and  nomination  of  the  minister  of  war 
cannot  be  accomplished  without  the  cognizance  of  the  minister 
of  foreign  affairs,  and  in  the  absence  of  two  or  three  members 
of  government.  I  have  promised  to  maintain  you  with  all  my 
efforts.  I  will  keep  my  word,  or  I  will  declare  myself  in  divi- 
sion with  the  government.  To-morrow  I  will  demand  a  new 
deliberation.  I  will  protest  against  a  resolution  which  removes 
you,  and  will  cause  the  whole  government  to  vote  upon  the 
question.  I  am  confident  that  the  republic  will  not  be  deprived 
of  the  indefatigable  services  you  have  rendered  her  since  the 
first  hour."  —  "  No,"  returned  the  general,  "  it  is  sufficient  foi 
me  to  know  that  you  wouM  keep  your  word.  I  am  sacrificed, 
without  your  participation  in  hostility  or  ambition.  I  do  not 
wish  the  reparation  you  offer  me.  I  should  be  unhappy  if  my 
name  was  the  cause  of  division  in  the  government.  Besides, 
I  see  that  I  have  enemies,  either  in  its  bosom  or  around  it, 
who  would  not  pardon  my  triumph  over  them,  and  who,  in 
wishing  to  injure  me,  would  injure  the  public  cause.  I  am  of 
the  age  of  those  soldiers  who  considered  themselves  as  nothing, 
and  who  voluntarily  sacrificed  themselves  for  the  country.     I 

VOL.  u.  6* 


66 


HISTORY   OF    THE 


wish  to  be  worthy  of  my  epoch."     He  embraced  Lamartine, 
and  withdrew. 

As  soon  as  M.  Arago  had  taken  the  ofRce,  the  generals,  mem- 
bers of  the  council  of  defence,  were  occupied,  under  his  presiden- 
cy, with  the  reorganization  of  the  army,  upon  the  basis  proposed 
by  Lamartine,  as  minister  of  foreign  affairs.  The  opposition 
which  was  apparent  between  him  and  them  respecting  the 
forty  thousand  men  whom  he  wished  to  recall  from  Africa,  and 
whom  these  generals  wished  to  retain  there,  always  existed, 
broke  out  many  times  into  almost  bitter  discussions,  and  ended 
by  being  confined  to  the  secret  deliberations  of  the  council  of 
defence,  working  without  the  government,  under  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  minister  of  war  alone.  The  intelligence,  activity, 
and  energy  of  this  council  answered,  nevertheless,  for  all  the 
rest  in  the  opinion  of  the  government.  M.  Arago,  pursuing 
the  plans  of  General  Subervie,  and  the  generals  by  whom  he 
was  assisted,  raised  the  army,  in  a  few  months,  from  three 
hundred  and  seventy  thousand  men,  to  four  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  thousand  ;  the  cavalry,  from  forty-six  thousand,  to  seven- 
ty-five thousand  ;  and  the  arms,  equipments,  uniforms,  defence 
of  the  coasts,  and  the  armament  of  the  fortresses,  followed  in 
a  proportion  analogous  to  this  development.  The  republic, 
counting  its  naval  forces  and  its  Guard  Mobile,  would  have, 
before  the  month  of  October,  an  army  of  five  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  men,  without  comprising  the  three  hundred 
battalions  of  the  Guard  Mobile  in  the  departments,  demanded 
at  a  later  period  by  Lamartine  and  Flocon  as  a  reserve,  de- 
creed by  the  provisional  government,  and  voted  by  the  National 
Assembly.  I  shall  return  to  the  double  motive  of  this  last 
establishment,  the  persevering  project  of  Lamartine  for  the  in- 
terest of  the  forces  to  be  employed  abroad,  and  for  the  internal 
union  of  the  republic,  against  the  foreseen  assaults  to  be  made 
upon  society. 

XIX. 

M.  Bethmont,  minister  of  commerce  and  agriculture,  had 
for  his  task,  at  this  moment,  when  all  commerce  was  suspended, 
to  console  and  mitigate  the  distresses  of  labor.  No  character 
was  more  appropriate  than  his  for  such  a  part.  Patient,  serene, 
resigned,  attentive,  eloquent,  full  of  soul  and  compassion  for 
the  anguish  of  his  fellow-beings,  M.  Bethmont  gave  to  the 
republic  the  character  of  probity,  solicitude,  and  sympathy, 
which  he  had  himself.     Assiduous  and  reflective  at  the  sit- 


\ 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  67 

tings,  he  profited  by  the  leisure  which  his  office  allowed  him, 
to  assist  in  the  council  of  government.  He  was  always  ranged 
on  the  side  of  moderation,  law,  and  republican  order,  on  the 
model  of  the  great  magistrates  of  the  Assembly  of  1790.  His 
place  should  have  been  at  the  head  of  the  magistracy. 

M.  Marie,  more  active  by  temperament,  more  bold  in  ideas, 
more  universal  and  enterprising  in  affairs,  temporized  with  the 
public  works,  too  long  suspended,  and  too  much  subject  to 
routine.  One  of  the  political  and  social  solutions  of  the  crisis 
had  been,  according  to  the  opinion  of  some  members  of  the 
government,  a  large  recruiting  of  men  out  of  employment,  to 
be  suddenly  thrown  on  some  great  works  of  public  improve- 
ment of  the  soil  of  France.  Lamartine  thought  with  them  in 
this  respect.  Some  socialists,  at  first  moderate  and  politic, 
afterwards  irritated  and  factious,  urged  government  to  carry 
out  this  project.  A  great  campaign  in  the  interior,  with  tools 
for  weapons,  like  the  campaigns  of  the  Romans  or  Egyptians. 
to  excavate  canalo  or  drain  the  Pontine  marshes,  appeared  to 
them  the  palliative  indicated  to  a  republic  which  wished  to 
remain  in  peace,  and  save  property  by  protecting  it,  and  by 
elevating  the  position  of  the  destitute.  It  was  the  opinion  of 
the  hour.  A  great  office  of  public  works  would  have  been  the 
era  of  a  policy  appropriate  to  the  situation.  It  was  one  of  the 
great  faults  of  the  government  to  wait  too  long  before  carrying 
its  opinions  into  action.  While  it  was  waiting,  the  national 
workshops,  increased  by  misery  and  want  of  employment, 
became,  from  day  to  day,  more  dull,  more  unprofitable,  and 
more  menacing  for  public  order. 

At  this  time  they  had  not  yet  reached  this  point.  They 
were  only  an  expedient  of  order,  and  a  draft  of  public  assist- 
ance, commanded  on  the  morning  of  the  revolution,  by  the 
necessity  of  nourishing  the  people,  and  of  not  supporting  them 
in  idleness,  to  avoid  the  disorders  which  must  arise  from  it. 
M.Marie  organized  them  with  intelligence,  but  without  utility 
for  productive  labor.  He  formed  them  into  brigades  ;  he  gave 
them  chiefs.  He  inspired  them  with  a  spirit  of  discipline  and 
order.  He  made  them,  during  four  months,  instead  of  a  force 
at  the  mercy  of  the  socialists  and  insurgents,  a  pretorian  but 
idle  army  in  the  hands  of  power,  commanded,  directed,  and 
controlled  by  chiefs  who  entertained  the  secret  opinions  of  the 
anti-socialist  party  of  the  government.  These  workshops  coun- 
terbalanced, until  the  arrival  of  the  National  Assembly,  the 
sectarian  workmen  of  the  Luxembourg,  and  the  seditious  work- 


68 


HISTORY   OF   THE 


men  of  the  clubs.  They  scandalized  the  people  of  Paris  by 
their  multitude  and  the  uselessness  of  their  labors,  but  they 
many  times  protected  and  saved  Paris,  without  its  knowledge. 
Very  far  from  being  in  the  pay  of  Louis  Blanc,  as  it  was  said, 
they  were  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  his  adversaries. 

At  first  they  only  amounted  to  twenty  thousand.  But 
each  day  brought  to  them  a  new  reinforcement  of  misery 
and  idleness.  The  unexpected  and  sudden  work  of  the  fortifi- 
cations had  called  and  stationed  at  Paris  a  mass  of  forty  thou- 
sand additional  workmen,  who,  once  established  in  the  capital, 
did  not  wish  to  leave  it.  These  men,  plasterers  or  masons, 
had  none  of  the  conditions  of  a  settled  population.  The  re- 
public thus  expiated  the  imprudence  of  the  monarchy.  The 
works  of  luxury,  which  are  the  first  injured  by  crises,  ceased 
in  all  the  manufactories  of  Paris.  The  savings  of  the  work- 
men were  wasted.  The  wants  of  their  families  made  them- 
selves cruelly  felt.  The  rich  manufacturers,  generous  towards 
their  workmen,  retained  a  part  at  half  wages.  In  certain 
manufactories,  a  half  of  the  workmen,  instead  of  laboring  all 
the  week,  worked  four  days,  while  the  other  half  rested ;  then 
they  quitted  the  workshop  to  rest,  in  their  turn,  and  left  the 
place  to  their  comrades ;  but,  from  week  to  week,  great  manu- 
factories were  closed,  and  the  two  hundred  thousand  workmen 
who  had  peopled  the  workshops  of  Paris  thus  came  succes- 
sively to  enroll  themselves  in  this  temporary  army  of  the  na- 
tional workshops. 

To  these  workmen  of  the  hand  were  joined  soon  laborers  in 
the  liberal  arts,  who  had  also  exhausted  their  last  resources ; 
artists,  designers,  compositors,  the  employes  of  the  book-trade, 
clerks  in  the  shops,  men  of  letters,  actors ;  men  who  had  only 
handled  the  graver,  the  press,  or  the  pen.  came  courageously 
to  demand  at  the  workshops  the  pickaxe  or  mattock,  to  dig  the 
ground  in  the  Champ-de-Mars,  and  to  labor  in  the  different 
timber-yards  which  were  assigned  them. 

They  met  in  the  morning  on  the  boulevard,  at  the  Champs 
Elysees,  in  all  the  quarters  of  the  faubourgs,  in  small  detach- 
ments of  from  twenty  to  a  hundred  men,  of  all  ages  and  cos- 
tumes, marching,  preceded  by  a  banner,  and  conducted  to  labor 
by  a  brigadier.  These  men  were  sad  in  countenance,  but  at 
first  serious  and  patient.  It  was  seen  that  they  had  the  honor- 
able feeling  of  the  painful  duty  which  they  were  performing 
for  their  families,  and  of  the  duties  which  the  government  ful- 
filled towards  them,  in  giving  tLem  aid  by  labor.     Unfortu- 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  Cft 

nately,  this  labor,  badly  organized,  was  only  a  pretext  for  public 
assistance,  an  expedient  for  the  emergency,  to  prevent  scarcity, 
trouble,  and  despair.  They  returned  at  evening,  in  the  same 
order,  to  their  different  quarters.  They  formed  the  police,  and. 
exercised  a  voluntary  and  mutual  discipline  among  themselves 
Their  wages  were  paid  them  every  Saturday.  This  was  not 
an  organization  of  government,  as  they  wished  to  have  it  be- 
lieved at  a  later  period.  It  was  a  sacred  alms,  indispensable  to 
the  state,  honored  by  the  appearance  of  labor.  These  work- 
shops of  Paris,  vhich  the  same  necessity  caused  to  be  organ- 
ized by  instinct  in  all  the  industrial  towns,  disaccustomed,  it  is 
true,  many  workmen  to  serious  labor  ;  but  they  saved  the  masses 
from  hunger  and  despair,  society  from  trouble,  and  property 
from  ravage. 

The  government  had  but  one  wrong  in  principle.  This  was, 
not  to  apply  these  workshops  to  great  labors  of  public  utility, 
and  not  to  disperse,  at  a  distance  from  Paris  and  the  great 
towns,  the  fire  of  sedition.  When  they  wished  to  do  so,  it 
was  too  late.  Their  army  was  increased  to  a  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  men  in  Paris.  It  would  require  another  army 
to  constrain  them  to  evacuate  the  capital.  They  tolerated 
them,  through  humanity  and  necessity,  until,  the  revolutionary 
epoch  having  been  passed,  private  labor  was  allowed  to  reab- 
sorb these  elements,  and  public  authority,  reestablished,  could 
control  their  seditions. 

Such  were  the  national  workshops,  which  have  been  repre- 
sented as  a  system,  but  which  were  only  a  passing  expedient, 
terrible  but  necessary.  The  prudent  members  of  the  govern- 
ment did  not  cease  to  consider,  with  fear,  the  moment  when 
sedition  should  be  introduced  into  this  germ  of  misery  and 
idleness,  and  when  it  would  be  necessary  to  dissolve  it  by  pru- 
dence or  force.  Sedition  was  not  introduced  until  after  the 
arrival  of  the  National  Assembly  at  Paris.  This  was  the  almost 
inevitable  rock  of  the  first  regular  government  of  the  republic. 
We  shall  see,  further  on,  how  it  avoided  rurming  aground 
upon  it. 

XX. 

Of  all  the  republican  institutions,  that  of  public  instruction 
and  elementary  education,  given  gratuitously  to  the  people,  was 
one  of  the  most  organic  and  most  vital.  The  civilization  of  a 
people  is  contained  in  its  germ  in  its  institutions  of  education. 
While  one  generation  g-rows  up  and  dies,  another  generation  is 


70  HISTORY   OF    THE 

born,  and  advances  upon  its  steps  to  replace  it.  The  traditions 
of  the  first  are  the  patrimony  of  the  second.  Humanity  has 
thus  an  immortal  child  to  instruct  and  educate. 

The  government,  too  much  preoccupied  by  the  tempest  with- 
out and  within,  against  which  it  struggled,  had  not  time  to 
ripen,  in  a  few  days  and  nights  wasted  in  the  storms  of  the 
public  square,  perfected  plans  of  popular  education.  But  it 
wished  to  perform  this  promise  of  the  republic  to  the  people, 
and  prepare  the  way  for  the  National  Assembly. 

A  man  of  an  ancient  mould,  of  a  tender  soul,  and  'firm 
spirit,  despised  and  calumniated  afterwards  for  some  words 
imprudently  signed  in  the  tumult  of  incessant  labors,  and  inter- 
preted, by  the  malignity  of  party  spirit,  in  a  sense  belied  by  his 
nature  and  his  entire  life,  M.  Carnot,  was  intrusted  with  this 
task.  The  thought  of  the  revolution  was  what  it  ought  to  be, 
to  disseminate  education  among  the  people  by  an  institution  of 
education  emanating  from  the  republic  itself;  to  render  obli- 
gatory the  general  and  neutral  elementary  part  of  this  instruc- 
tion, from  a  kind  of  sense  of  the  intellectual  light  which  a 
iruly  moral  society  owes  to  all  those  who  are  born  in  its  bosom  ; 
not  to  enslave  the  soul  of  children  to  the  monopolizing  control 
of  a  board  of  education,  but  to  give  to  society  that  which  be- 
longs to  society,  to  the  family  that  which  belongs  to  the  family, 
and  to  God  that  which  belongs  to  God.  Eepublican  instruc- 
tion can  combine  ail  this,  by  a  strong  organization  of  the  uni- 
versity, and  by  a  complete  system  of  liberty  of  education,  in 
concurrence  with  the  institution  of  instruction  of  the  state. 

The  rational  republic  could  not  wish  either  to  enchain  the 
civilization  and  the  conscience  of  the  clergy,  or  to  interpose  a 
profane  hand  between  the  religion  of  the  father  and  the  soul 
of  the  child.  It  ought,  then,  to  free  the  religious  conscience 
from  the  tyranny  of  the  state,  as  it  ought  to  emancipate  the 
intelligence  of  the  imposed  supremacy  of  dogmas.  Its  thought, 
like  that  of  the  future,  was  the  intellectual  as  well  as  the  civil 
liberty  of  worship ;  faith,  individualized  in  man ;  God  free  to 
manifest  himself,  and  to  shine  forth,  through  reason;  constantly 
increasing  in  the  human  mind  the  religious  sentiment  only, 
under  all  its  forms,  but  instituted,  propagated,  honored,  and 
cultivated,  as  the  universal  creed  in  all  spiritualized  society. 

M.  Carnot  thought  and  acted  in  this  spirit.  He  had  at  his 
side,  in  M.  Reynaud,  his  under-secretary  of  state,  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  philosophical  epoch,  corrected  by  the  religious  sen- 
timent, and  applied  by  the  democratic  sentiment,  together  with 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  71 

the  intelligence  of  the  constituent  assembly,  the  fratv!rnal  in- 
stincts of  the  true  republic,  the  toleration,  liberty,  and  modera- 
tion of  our  own  age.  Such  was  the  spirit  of  this  minister. 
He  was  the  man,  of  all,  who  had  the  most  time  to  reflect,  and 
wlio  meditated  to  the  best  advantage. 

The  first  act  of  M.  Carnot  was  a  circular  to  the  clergy,  to 
declare  that  the  republic  wished  to  be  religious,  to  encourage 
them  to  reenter  their  temples,  venerated  by  the  people,  and 
protected  by  the  government.  He  proposed  two  laws ;  the 
first  respecting  primary  instruction,  by  which  he  reconciled 
the  three  principles  announced  above,  obligation,  gratuity,  and 
liberty  of  education.  This  law  made  the  teacher  a  public 
functionarj''  of  morals  and  intelligence.  He  founded  the  school 
of  administration,  a  school  which  had  the  fault  of  being  de- 
voted to  one,  instead  of  being  specially  adapted  to  each,  branch 
of  administration.  He  elevated  the  position  of  teachers.  He 
established  the  maternal  school,  nursery  of  charity,  to  form 
the  adoptive  mothers  of  the  halls  of  asyluhi.  He  developed 
agricultural  education  in  the  primary  schools.  He  proposed 
the  adoption,  by  the  state,  of  chosen  pupils,  who  manifested 
remarkable  abilities  in  any  department.  He  reestablished  the 
lyceums,  and  ordered  there  the  study  of  the  French  revolution. 
He  repressed  with  energy  the  want  of  discipline  which  the 
reaction  of  the  crisis  of  February  had  given  cause  to  dread. 
He  proposed  a  free  athenagum,  as  a  completion  of  the  higher 
studies,  and  the  public  courts,  exercising  the  mind  of  youth  to 
the  loftiest  speculations  of  philosophy.  He  organized  public 
lectures,  to  occupy  the  leisure  hours  of  the  people.  He  en- 
couraged popular  literature,  which  is  almost  entirely  wanting 
in  France.  He  gave  directions  and  prizes  for  this  mode  of 
diflTusing  thought 

He  was  deceived  by  the  bad  compilation  of  these  popular 
books.  They  reproached  him  for  these  evil  publications,  for 
which  he  was  only  responsible  by  the  omission  of  his  censure. 
He  gave,  like  the  ancients,  by  instruction  in  music,  a  pre- 
cept for  the  elevation  and  refinement  of  the  moral  and  en- 
lightened sense  of  the  people.  He  grouped  round  him,  as  a 
philosophical  and  literary  council,  the  highest  and  purest  names 
in  philosophy  and  republican  literature,  among  the  number  of 
whom  the  people  beheld  Beranger,  the  man  whom  they  love. 

A  phrase,  improperly  Avritten,  and  falsely  interpreted,  in  a 
circular  of  31.  Carnot,  has  since  weighed  heavily  on  his  admin- 
istration, and  effaced  the  memory  of  all  his  services.     It  had 


1^ 


72  HISTORY   OF    THE 

no  other  meaning  than  to  complete  the  representation  of  agri- 
culture, by  saying  to  the  cultivators  that  they  were  better 
suited  to  know  and  advance  their  own  interests  than  more 
learned  representatives,  who  were  strangers  to  the  soil.  M. 
Carnot,  when  informed  of  this  erroneous  interpretation,  recti- 
fied it  immediately  himself,  in  terms  which  leave  no  doubt  of 
his  good  faith. 

"  They  have  represented,"  said  he,  "  my  circular  of  the  sixth 
of  March  as  a  complement  of  those  of  the  minister  of  the  in- 
terior. It  is  necessary  I  should  explain  myself.  Two  opposite 
tendencies  are  personified  to  the  eyes  of  the  public,  above  all, 
m  M.  de  Lamartine,  and  in  the  minister  of  the  interior.  I 
have  only  need  to  say  that  my  sympathies  belong  to  the  first." 
Carnot,  in  fact,  was  the  last  of  men  whom  they  could  accuse 
of  the  violence  or  brutality  of  the  demagogue.  If  the  new 
republic  had  had  to  present  a  model  of  intelligent  and  moral 
republicanism  to  its  friends  or  its  enemies,  it  is  upon  him  that  it 
would  have  cast  i1^  eyes.  He  expiates  his  words,  and  they 
forget  his  thoughts  and  acts.  But  the  man  is  safe,  and  the 
republic  will,  sooner  or  later,  need  to  find  him  again. 

The  minister  of  justice  had,  after  the  ministers  of  the  interior 
and  of  war,  to  decide  upon  the  greatest  number  of  points  impor- 
tant in  themselves  and  in  their  consequences.  M.  Cremieux 
touched  them  all  with  such  precision,  that  the  constituent  as- 
sembly converted  nearly  all  the  decrees  of  this  minister  into 
laws. 

Respecting  the  measures  which  concerned  the  minister  of 
the  interior,  they  especially  consisted  in  despatching  commis- 
sioners and  sub-commissioners,  destined  to  replace  the  prefects 
and  sub-prefects  in  the  departments.  Nearly  all  the  depart- 
ments, without  waiting  orders  from  Paris,  had,  of  their  own 
accord,  and  without  violence,  transformed  their  monarchical 
into  a  republican  administration.  Nowhere  had  a  prefect,  a 
general,  or  a  soldier,  resisted.  They  said  that  the  revolution, 
already  accomplished  in  their  minds,  had  only  to  be  named  to 
be  recognized.  Everywhere,  and  without  a  contest,  the  citi- 
zens remarkable  for  their  opposition  had  been  surrounded,  on 
the  arrival  of  the  news  of  affairs  at  Paris,  by  their  fellow-citi- 
zens, conducted  to  the  hotel  of  the  prefecture,  or  of  the  sub- 
prefecture,  arfd  there  had  received  peacefully  the  reins  of 
administration  from  the  hands  of  the  old  authorities.  Every- 
where, also,  and  with  the  same  harmony,  the  councils  of 
prefecture,  the  mayors,  and  the  provisional  councils  of  munici- 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848. 


73 


pality,  had  been  changed  or  recruited  by  new  members  having 
the  confidence  of  the  people.  Anarchy  had  not  a  minute  to 
introduce  itself  between  the  two  governments. 

These  new  authorities  were  obeyed,  from  instinct,  with  even 
more  unanimity  than  the  old  ones.  It  was  said  that  all  France 
had  a  genius  for  revolutions,  and  accomplished  this  complete 
transformation  from  a  monarchical  to  a  republican  order  as 
an  army  accomplishes  a  manoeuvre  to  which  it  has  been  prac- 
tised by  discipline.  This  is  one  of  the  fruits  of  those  thirty 
years  of  constitutional  liberty  which  France  has  practised 
since  1814.  Liberty  and  reason  progress  with  equal  steps 
among  the  people. 

The  minister  of  the  interior,  M.  Ledru  Eollin,  confirmed 
most  of  those  first  chosen  commissioners  by  the  people  of  the 
departments.  He  sent  others  to  them  from  Paris.  Their  wise 
selection  showed  the  high  and  liberal  spirit  of  conciliation 
which  the  majority  of  the  government,  and  the  minister  of  the 
interior  himself,  wished  at  first  to  manifest,  and  to  present  to 
the  departments,  as  a  model  of  republican  administration. 

To  follow  the  good  spirit  of  the  departments,  shown  in  their 
spontaneous  elections ;  not  to  constrain,  but  to  seduce,  their 
confidence,  by  the  esteem  with  which  their  rulers  should  inspire 
them ;  to  moderate  what  might  be  excessive ;  to  temper  what 
might  be  too  burning ;  to  stimulate  the  lukewarm  ;  to  find  the 
reins  of  government  in  the  hearts  of  good  citizens  ;  not  to  leave 
the  excited  population  time  to  perceive  an  interval  in  the  execu- 
tion of  the  laws  of  public  order ;  to  prevent,  at  any  cost,  civil 
wars,  and  the  effusion  of  a  drop  of  blood ;  to  compassionate, 
console,  and  protect  the  vanquished ;  to  ennoble  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  conquerors  by  their  own  generosity ;  to  forget  the  mutual 
grievances  among  the  parties,  and  to  merge  in  the  national 
family  all  those  who  are  united  in  the  love  of  country  and  the 
defence  of  society  ;  —  such  were  the  intentions  unanimously  ex- 
pressed in  the  council  by  the  members  of  government,  con- 
stantly commented  on  by  Lamartine,  in  his  harangues  to  the 
deputations  from  the  departments,  and  to  the  people  at  the 
Hotel  de  Ville,  or  on  the  public  square ;  and  written  in  the 
first  instructions  to  the  commissioners  of  government  by  the 
minister  of  the  interior. 

The  greater  part  of  these  first  commissioners  were  members 
of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  known  by  their  moderate  opposi- 
tion to  the  old  government;  editors  of  democratic  journals, 
accredited  by  the  esteem  which  they  enjoyed  ;  the  advocates  of 

VOL.  II.  7 


J 


74  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  republican  press  of  Paris,  and  above  all  the  National.  The 
minister  of  the  interior  joined  to  them  the  advocates  of  the 
journal  La  Reforme,  the  most  active  and  revolutionary  centre 
of  conspiracies  opposed  to  monarchy ;  and,  in  fine,  a  very  small 
number  of  the  followers  of  the  socialist  schools,  men,  at  first,  as 
moderate  in  action  as  they  were  bold  in  ideas, 

XXL 

These  hurried  selections,  made,  so  to  speak,  at  the  cry  of  the 
emergency,  and  at  the  indication  of  the  different  parties,  did  not 
at  first  excite  any  question.  The  minister  pointed  out  to  his 
agents  the  spirit  of  his  administration,  in  a  first  circular  of  the 
eighth  of  March.  This  circular  said  :  "  All  France  has  but  one 
voice,  as  she  has  but  one  soul.  This  union  of  all  in  one  opinion 
is  the  most  certain  pledge  of  the  duration  of  the  republic ;  it 
should  become  the  source  of  moderation  after  victory.  Your 
first  care  must  be,  to  have  it  understood  that  the  republic  should 
be  exempt  from  all  ideas  of  vengeance  and  reaction.  Yet  this 
generosity  should  not  degenerate  into  weakness.  In  your  absti- 
nence from  all  investigations  as  to  opinions  and  fonner  acts,  take 
as  your  rule,  that  all  political  functions,  in  whatever  degree  of 
the  administration  they  may  be,  can  only  be  intrusted  to  proved 
republicans,  —  in  a  word,  all  men  of  the  evening,  and  none  of 
the  morning." 

The  first  words  of  these  instructions  were  entirely  in  the  spirit 
of  the  government ;  the  last  were  a  proscription  of  France. 
To  proscribe  in  France  all  that  was  not  republican  of  the  even- 
ing was  to  alienate  her  from  the  republic.  The  republic,  by 
alienating  from  it  the  majority  of  France,  would  become  a  gov- 
ernment of  a  minority.  A  government  of  a  minority  must 
intimidate  the  majority,  —  that  is  to  say,  the  nation,  —  in  order 
to  establish  and  maintain  itself.  The  republic  of  the  twenty- 
fourth  of  Februai-y  would  thus  become  degraded  and  perverted. 

The  radical  difference  between  the  members  of  government, 
as  to  the  manner  of  understanding  and  administering  the  re- 
public, was  unfortunately  revealed  in  these  first  words.  It  was 
evident  that  the  posthumous  and  dictatorial  conventionalist  spirit 
of  the  advocates  of  La  Rtforme  sought  to  draw  away  the  inter- 
nal policy  into  the  path  of  proscription  and  revolutionary  intim- 
idation. Although  their  acts  were  tolerant,  their  words  were 
bitter.  This  was  sutficient  to  disturb  the  country,  at  a  time 
when  it  was  necessary  to  reassure  it,  and  to  rally  it  in  a  body 
round  the  republic. 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  75 

This  unexpected  insult,  offered  to  all  those  who  only  admitted 
the  republic  on  the  condition  they  might  bring  to  it  the  fulness 
of  their  honor  and  their  rights,  excited  the  first  resentments  and 
raised  the  first  umbrage.  Nevertheless,  the  measures  of  the 
minister  of  the  interior,  and  of  the  majority  of  the  commissioners 
whom  he  had  appointed,  did  not,  at  first,  correspond  in  anv 
respect  with  this  language.  The  words  appeared  a  concession 
to  a  violent  party,  in  order  to  refuse  them  acts.  They  were 
spread,  without  the  government  thinking  it  worth  while  to  take 
them  back  and  deny  them.  The  minister  of  the  interior,  ab- 
sorbed in  the  vastness  of  the  details  of  his  department,  could 
not  be  made  substantially  answerable  for  all  that  was  published 
under  his  moral  responsibility  ;  he  even  assisted  but  rarely  in 
the  deliberations  of  the  government,  which  were  still  held  at 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  in  the  midst  of  the  constant  concourse  of  the 
people.  He  governed  by  himself  that  part  of  the  public  service 
which  had  been  assigned  to  him. 

Lamartine,  on  his  part,  administered  with  absolute  indepen- 
dence the  foreign  policy,  and  that  portion  of  the  public  spirit 
which  corresponded  with  his  views.  Each  minister  was  sov- 
ereign in  his  centre  of  action ;  they  only  submitted  to  each 
other  very  important  questions,  which  were  bound  up  in  the 
general  policy  of  the  government. 

Louis  Blanc  and  Albert,  previously  allied  with  the  party  of 
la  Reforme,  surrounded  themselves  with  other  active  men  of 
this  party,  and  sought  to  disseminate,  some  their  socialist 
doctrine,  others  their  republican  grieA'ances.  Flocon,  a  mind 
more  politic  than  speculative,  endeavored  to  restore  to  an  equi- 
librium these  pretensions  of  the  socialists  and  extreme  republi- 
cans. We  owe  to  him  much  of  the  mild  disposition  which  the 
two  parties  of  government  had  the  wisdom  to  preserve  towards 
each  other,  in  order  not  to  openly  break  the  apparent  unity 
^vhich  prevented  civil  war  in  the  countr)^ 

Caussidiere,  a  supple  and  designing  spirit,  under  a  rude  and 
uncultivated  exterior,  apparently  leaned  towards  the  policy  of 
the  minister  of  the  interior.  But  he  was  served  by  his  friends 
to  promote  his  o\vn  importance,  yet  more  than  he  sen-ed  them. 
A  man  of  action,  in  contact  with  the  people,  surrounded  by  a 
soldiery  ready  for  everything,  his  friends  could  do  nothing  with- 
out him.  He  affected  an  independence  w^hich  made  him  some- 
times suspected  and  sometimes  dreaded  by  them.  The  part}-- 
of  the  Natio7ial  was  in  opposition  to  Caussidiere.  This  party 
believed  that  the  prefect  of  police  was  the  agent  and  support  of 
the  minister  of  the  interior  aarainst  them. 


78  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Lamartine  understood,  at  a  glance,  that  there  was  an  im- 
mense part  to  be  played  by  Caussidiere  for  the  reestablishment 
of  order,  and  that  it  was  necessary  to  increase  his  power 
against  his  most  dangerous  enemies.  He  showed  him  confi- 
dence. He  urged  him  to  demand  from  government  the  most 
extensive  powers,  and  the  largest  foundations  for  the  police. 
He  took  the  initiative  in  the  council  in  his  favor,  for  the  crea- 
tion of  an  armed  municipal  corps,  a  republican  guard,  protect- 
ors of  Paris,  under  the  immediate  orders  of  the  prefect  of 
police.  He  saw  him  sometimes  in  private.  He  conversed 
with  him  confidentially  and  frankly  respecting  the  general  do- 
mestic and  foreign  policy.  He  did  not  conceal  from  himself 
the  complex  situation  and  the  ambition  of  the  part  of  Caussi- 
diere ;  but  he  saw  probity  in  that  ambition,  loyalty  in  that 
artifice.  Caussidiere  had  a  heart.  That  heart  was  honest 
and  generous.  One  could  trust,  if  not  to  his  opinions,  at  least 
to  his  nature.  He  could  dream  of  great  revolutionary  acts, 
never  of  crimes.  A  man  of  combat,  and  not  of  anarchy,  he 
aspired  to  promptly  regulate  the  victory,  to  preserve  the  confi- 
dence of  the  friends  who  had  conspired  and  fought  with  him, 
to  acquire  the  esteem  of  the  vanquished,  the  gratitude  of 
Paris,  to  legitimate  his  conquest  by  his  services,  and  to  change 
the  conspirator  into  a  magistrate.  He  loved  the  people,  but 
he  did  not  flatter  them  in  their  excesses,  nor  even  in  their 
dreams. 

Lamartine  often  spoke  to  him  of  the  danger  of  the  commu- 
nist publications  of  his  friends  at  the  Luxembourg,  and  of  the 
necessity  of  confining  these  theories  of  social  destruction  to 
measures  for  institutions  of  assistance,  education,  alms,  labor, 
and  access  to  property,  for  the  destitute.  Caussidiere  was  en- 
tirely of  that  opinion.  "  Socialism  does  not  infect  me,"  replied 
he,  with  disdain.  "  Order,  labor,  fraternity  in  action,  and  no 
chimeras !  " 

He  powerfully  aided  Lamartine  to  restrain  the  Polish,  Ger- 
man, Belgian  and  Italian  refugees,  who  wished  to  draw  the 
republic  into  wars  of  forced  aggression  for  the  interests  of  for- 
eign factions.  At  the  beginning,  these  conspiracies  had  se- 
cretly appeared,  if  not  openly  favored,  at  least  tolerated  and 
encouraged,  by  some  men  closely  united  with  the  government. 
Lamartine  made  Caussidiere  comprehend  the  danger  of  these 
attempts,  which  would  rouse  Europe  against  the  republic,  and 
would  form  again  a  coalition  A  policy  more  loyal,  and  more 
able  in  its  loyalty,  made  this  coalition  impossible. 


HEV07.UT10N    OF    1848.  77 


XXII. 


A  woman  remarkable  by  her  style,  and  an  orator  of  dis- 
tinction, Madame  Sand  and  M.  Jules  Favre,  then  lent  the 
assistance  of  their  talent  to  the  ministry  of  the  interior. 

Madame  Sand,  hastening  at  the  intelligence  of  the  revolu- 
tion, had  seen  Lamartine  on  her  arrival  at  Paris.  The  minis- 
ter of  foreign  affliivs  had  labored  to  win  to  his  views  this 
genius,  of  masculine  form,  and  feminine  in  the  mobility  of,  its 
convictions.  He  had  had  an  interview  of  several  hours  with 
this  woman,  who  was  so  important  in  a  crisis  in  which  the 
popular  tempest  could  be  governed  only  by  the  winds  which 
were  directed  on  its  waves.  He  had  convinced  Madame  Sand 
that  the  safety  of  the  new  institutions  could  exist  only  in  the 
sudden,  energetic  and  complete  repudiation  of  the  excesses 
and  crimes  which  had  dishonored  and  destroyed  the  first  revo- 
lution. He  had  conjured  her  to  lend  the  strength  with  which 
God  had  endowed  her  to  the  cause  of  order  and  the  moraliza- 
tion  of  the  people.  She  had  promised  him  to  do  so,  with  that 
accent  of  passionate  enthusiasm  which  reveals  the  sincerity 
of  convictions.  She  had  asked  for  a  few  days  only,  to  go  into 
Berri  to  arrange  her  affairs.  On  her  return,  she  would  edit  a 
popular  sheet,  which  should  sow  in  the  minds  of  the  masses 
principles  of  peace,  discipline,  and  fraternity,  to  which  her  pen 
and  name  would  have  given  the  -prestige  and  renown  of  her 
popularity.  She  departed  with  this  intention.  On  her  return, 
the  former  predilections  of  her  mind  for  the  adventurous  theo- 
ries of  socialism  attached  her,  through  Louis  Blanc,  to  a 
centre  of  opposite  policy.  Lamartine  learned  that  she  was  ed- 
iting an  official  sheet,  entitled  the  Bulletin  of  the  Republic, 
at  the  ministry  of  the  interior.  This  sheet,  inflamed  by  the 
inspirations  of  communism,  recalled  in  terms  the  unlucky 
reminiscences  of  the  first  republic.  It  rendered  some  fanatic 
from  impatience,  others  from  terror. 

The  majority  of  the  council,  on  being  informed  of  the  exist- 
ence of  this  bulletin,  groaned  over  this  perversion  of  a  talent 
of  the  first  order,  which  thus  placed  under  the  responsibility 
of  the  government  words  and  doctrines  in  open  contradiction 
with  its  spirit.  The  minister  of  the  interior  did  not  have 
leisure  personally  to  supervise  this  sheet,  which  emanated  from 
his  bureaux.  He  did  not  defend  its  injurious  exaggerations. 
It  was  agreed  that  none  of  these  bulletins  should  be  issued  to 
the  departments  until  after  having  passed  an  examination  by 

vo:..  II  T* 


78  HISTORY   OF    THE    REVOLUTION    OF    1848. 

one  of  the  members  of  the  government.  They  divided  the 
days  of  the  week  for  this  purpose.  The  innumerable  details 
with  which  they  were  charged,  and  the  urgent  occurrences 
which  constantly  sprang  up  with  the  days,  compelled  them 
frequently  to  neglect  this  duty.  Favored  by  this  neglect,  some 
more  bulletins  slipped  out,  and  carried  scandals  and  firebrands 
of  opinion  into  the  departments.  Some  commissaries  wisely 
assumed  the  responsibility  of  forbidding  their  advertisement 
and  publication  in  the  communes. 

XXIII. 

Meanwhile  Paris,  though  erect,  was  calm.  The  government 
had  convoked  all  France  to  the  elections  of  the  24th  of  April. 
It  was  the  time  strictly  necessary  for  the  material  operations 
of  the  mechanism  of  universal  suffrage. 

The  attempt  at  this  great  installation  of  the  sovereignty  of 
the  people  appeased  the  mass  of  minds,  but  irritated  others. 
Two  months  more  of  revolution  and  dictatorship  to  pass, 
seemed  two  centuries.  The  ultra-revolutionary  party  flattered 
themselves  that  these  two  months,  harassed  by  events,  diflfer- 
ent  factions,  threats  of  war  without  and  trouble  and  misery 
within,  would  not  permit  the  government  to  realize  this  great 
act.  Between  it  and  the  24th  of  April  a  thousand  abysses 
were  to  be  seen,  in  which  it  would  be  precipitated  before 
reaching  the  day  it  had  fixed  for  restoring  power  to  the  nation. 


BOOK  XI. 


I. 

The  moderate  party  of  the  government  —  and  then  it  was 
almost  unanimous  —  looked  from  afar  with  hope  to  the  moment 
when  the  nation,  evolcing  from  its  bosom  all  its  rights  and  all 
its  forces,  should  come  itself  to  its  own  aid,  and  seize  alone 
upon  its  revolution.  The  party  of  anarchy  and  terror,  outside, 
fooked  with  trembling  to  this  hour,  which  must  deprive  it  of  all 
the  chances  of  prolonging  its  reign  and  subverting  authority. 
This  part)',  stifled  in  the  first  days  by  the  defeat  it  had  met 
with  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  by  the  enthusiasm  of  order  and 
moderation  which  breathed  from  the  entire  soul  of  the  people, 
began  to  attempt  to  pervert  the  republic  in  clubs. 

Clubs  —  revolutionary  institutions,  or  rather  results  —  are 
nothing  less  than  a  tumultuous,  regulated,  and  periodical  mob ; 
the  public  square  compressed  into  a  narrower  space,  but  ani- 
mated by  the  same  passions,  overthrown  by  the  same  storms. 
They  have  even  a  greater  danger  than  the  pubhc  square  —  they 
have  the  spirit  of  sect,  and  the  combined  discipline  of  parties. 
As  soon  as  order  was  restored  in  the  street  by  the  spontaneous 
good  sense  of  the  people,  and  by  the  inspirations  and  vigilance 
of  growing  power,  clubs  were  formed  in  all  the  quarters  of 
Paris.  The  government  could  not  have  opposed  them,  without 
belying  its  nature,  and  misconceiving  its  situation.  The  clubs, 
at  such  a  time,  were  only  the  ruling  voices  of  public  opinion  — 
the  deliberative  bodies  of  the  revolution. 

Some  men,  too  much  frightened  at  analogies  with  the  Jacobin 
association,  were  afraid  that  the  republic  would  be  lost,  and  the 
government  enthralled,  the  day  they  witnessed  the  formation 
of  the  first  clubs.  Others  imderstood  the  difference  which  ex- 
isted between  a  single  revolutionary  club,  linking  to  itself  the 
entire  spirit  of  a  revolution,  like  the  Jacobins,  and  ruling  the 
Convention  itself,  and  a  multitude  of  clubs,  animated  by  different 
minds,  diverging  in  aim  and  theories  —  some  presenting  an 


80  HISTORY   OF   THE 

opposition  and  counterpoise  to  others,  rendered  unpopular  in 
advance,  in  the  minds  of  citizens,  by  the  sad  remembrances  of 
1793,  and  offering,  on  the  contrary,  to  a  skilful  and  firm  gov- 
ernment, points  of  support  and  points  of  resistance  against  the 
dangerous  unity  of  a  single  faction.  Thus  the  members  of  the 
provisional  government  did  not  feel  that  terror  with  which  some 
sought  to  inspire  them,  "  I  should  tremble,"  said  Lamartine  to 
the  alarmists,  "  if  there  were  only  a  club  of  Jacobins,  and  I 
should  not  even  attempt  to  struggle  against  such  a  union,  except 
by  an  insurrection  of  the  departments.  I  should  surrender  to  it 
the  victory  and  the  empire.  But  with  clubs  numerous,  free, 
equally  without  privileges  and  restraints,  I  fear  nothing  but  con- 
fused or  isolated  attempts,  against  which  the  public  mind  and 
the  clubs  themselves  will  serve  us  against  the  clubs.  Let  them 
summon  me  !  I  am  ready  to  present  myself,  like  Dumourier 
in  1792,  and  to  take  up  discussions  and  accusations  with  their 
orators." 

n. 

In  fact,  Lamartine  himself  aided  good  citizens  to  hire  halls, 
to  establish  offices,  and  to  found  well-disposed  clubs  in  different 
quarters  of  Paris,  to  employ  of  evenings  the  dangerous  idleness 
of  the  people,  and  to  direct  their  minds  in  the  sense  of  his  policy. 
He  also  entered  into  indirect  relations  with  the  most  vehement 
and  ill-disposed  clubs,  to  watch  over  their  outbreaks,  and  to  have 
their  incendiary  motions  refuted  by  orators  who  should  neutral- 
ize seditions. 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  madmen  in  the  Paris  National 
Club,  who  demanded  that  Lamartine  should  be  accused,  ask- 
ing for  his  head,  and  who  were  hooted  and  driven  from  the 
tribune  by  the  audience,  the  spirit  of  the  clubs  had  been  excel- 
lent, and  their  action  generally  useful,  up  to  this  time.  The 
pressure  of  sound  public  sense  bore  upon  bad  citizens.  The 
sentiment  of  their  unanimity  strengthened  the  good.  To  facili- 
tate these  meetings,  the  mayor  of  Paris  had  provisionally 
placed  at  their  disposal  many  public  buildings,  halls  of  refuge, 
or  exhibition  rooms.  The  greater  number  of  the  clubs  were 
thus  in  harmony  with  the  government  itself,  and  propagated  its 
ideas  of  order,  patriotism,  investigation,  and  conciliation,  in  the 
multitude.  One  fact  gave  them  a  new  and  more  characteristic 
aspect. 

The  government  had  thrown  open  the  dungeons  in  which  the 
precursors  of  the  republic,  convicted  of  plots  or  attempts  against 


EEVOLTJTION    OF    1848.  81 

the  throne,  had  been  languishing  for  many  years ;  two  of  these 
first  combatants  in  the  democratic  cause  had  just  come  out  of 
prison  :  they  were  Blanqui  and  Barbes.  Lamartine  did  not 
know  Blanqui ;  he  became  acquainted  with  Barbes  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner :  — 

Barbes  had  been  condemned  to  death  by  the  court  of  peers 
under  the  last  government.  At  four  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
the  day  on  Avhich  the  criminal  was  to  be  executed,  a  young 
woman  presented  herself  at  Lamartine's  door,  and  asked  to  see 
him.  Lamartine  rose  and  went  to  receive  her.  The  young 
woman  threw  herself,  in  tears,  at  his  feet,  told  him  that  she  was 
the  sister  of  Barbes,  and  entreated  him  to  save  her  brother. 
Lamartine  had  no  relations  with  the  court ;  he  remembered  that 
he  had  some  with  M.  de  MontaUvet,  the  minister  and  friend  of 
the  king.  He  hastened  to  him.  M.  de  Montalivet,  a  generous 
man,  whose  impulses  were  no  more  deliberate  than  his  courage, 
was  very  iU.  He  weighed  neither  his  health  nor  his  strength ; 
he  rose,  and  was  conducted  to  Neuilly.  The  king,  whose  feel- 
ing anticipated  that  of  his  minister,  granted  the  criminal  his 
life. 

But  during  this  interview  at  Neuilly,  the  emeute  of  April  was 
muttering  in  Paris ;  the  musketry  was  ringing  in  the  streets, 
and  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  was  girded  with  cannon  and 
troops.  At  this'sight  Lamartine  was  afraid  that  the  government 
would  have  the  sentence  executed,  for  fear  that  pardon  would 
appear  Aveakness  and  concession  to  the  insurgents ;  but  soon  a 
second  message  from  M.  de  Montalivet  satisfied  him.  The  king 
persisted  in  sparing  life  —  Barbes  was  saved.  The  sister  of  the 
criminal  was  waiting  for  his  sentence  in  one  of  the  bureaux  of 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  Lamartine  restored  her  to  life  in 
bearing  her  that  of  her  brother.  She  fainted  as  she  kissed  his 
hands. 

Seven  years  had  passed  since  the  occurrence  of  this  scene, 
when,  some  months  before  the  revolution  of  February',  Lamar- 
tine received  two  letters  from  Barbts,  which  the  condemned  had 
found  means  of  concealing  from  the  jailers  of  his  dungeon  at 
Nimes.  These  letters  said  to  Lamartine  :  "  I  owe  you  exist- 
ence ;  after  God,  you  are  my  savior.  If  I  ever  leave  these 
walls,  overthrown  by  the  certain  triumph  of  the  republic,  my 
first  visit  will  be  to  him  with  whom  my  gratitude  has  need  of 
relieving  itself ;  and  I  hope  that  after  having  saved  me,  he  will 
also  save  my  country." 

Barbes  had  kept  his  jyord.     The  next  day  after  his  arrival  in 


82  HISTORY   OF  THE 

Paris,  he  had  con  e  to  throw  himself  into  the  arms  of  Lamar- 
tine.  "  I  am  doubly  happy  at  your  deliverance,"  said  the  min- 
ister of  foreign  affairs  to  him ;  "  you  are  free,  and  it  is  the 
republic,  the  government  of  your  predilections,  which  receives 
you  to  liberty.  You  can  be  very  useful  to  it  at  this  time.  The 
people,  with  no  other  curb  than  our  words,  have  need  of  being 
directed  and  moderated.  They  will  listen  to  you ;  you  are  one 
of  their  martyrs ;  your  words  will  be  their  oracles.  Counsel 
them,  not  with  the  anger  of  a  combatant,  but  with  the  generosity 
of  a  conqueror,  and  the  coolness  of  a  statesman.  The  republic 
has  no  more  dangers  to  incur,  except  from  its  excesses.  Show 
as  much  heroism  in  restraining,  as  you  did  courage  and  impa- 
tience in  anticipating  it.  Ideas  only  become  government  on 
condition  of  being  regulated  by  order  and  strength.  Forget  the 
traditions  of  the  first  republic,  and  help  us  to  found  one  which 
is  neither  stained  by  anarchy  nor  scaffolds,  and  which  by  degrees 
reconciles  all  grievances  in  all  rights." 

Such  were  the  words  of  Lamartine.  Barbes  heard  them 
with  all  the  tokens  of  a  heartfelt  and  mental  acquiescence. 

"  These  ideas,"  said  he,  "  are  the  same  that  I  have  myself 
matured  in  my  captivity  and  my  political  religion.  I  do  not 
wish  to  employ  the  influence  which  my  reputation  as  a  victim 
will  give  me  over  the  people,  except  to  direct  them  in  this  sense. 
But  I  have  been  a  stranger  for  some  years  to  the  political  world. 
I  was  young  when  I  was  thrown  into  irons.  I  am  acquainted 
with  neither  things  nor  men.  Will  you  permit  me  to  consult 
you  from  time  to  time,  that  I  may  regain  the  true  path  if  my 
ignorance  of  affiiirs  should  cause  me  to  deviate  involuntarily? " 

Lamartine  promised  to  open  his  heart  to  him  whenever  he 
desired  it.  He  advised  him  not  to  league  himself  with  those 
who  would  confound  democracy  and  demagogueism,  or  would 
seek  to  ameliorate  the  social  condition  of  the  proletaries  by  the 
subversion  of  property,  the  common  basis  which  supports  every- 
thing, and  without  which  proprietors  and  proletaries  would  sink 
together  in  common  ruin. 

He  found  in  Barbes  the  instincts  of  an  enthusiastic  but 
honest  heart,  and  that  disposition  for  moderation  and  concilia- 
tion between  classes  which  he  desired.  This  disposition  lasted 
some  time.  It  would  have  lasted  always  if  Barbes  had  not 
been  soon  attracted  by  another  focus  of  opinions.  He  replunged 
into  his  ideas  of  the  radical  levelling  of  conditions  and  fortunes, 
the  eternal  mirage  of  the  zealots  of  the  absolute  equality  of 
property,  from  the  first  Christians  and  the  Gracchi  to  Barbeuf 


EEVOLXn-ION    OF    1848. 


83 


and  Marat ;  A-irtue  in  prin:ip]e,  fraternity  in  institutions,  frenay 
and  crime  in  revolutionary  realization. 

Barbes  was  afterwards  chosen  colonel  of  the  leg-ion  of  the 
12th  arrondissement  of  Paris.  He  founded  a  club  which  took  his 
name.  The  doctrines  of  socialism  were  there  mingled  with  the 
energy  of  republicanism.  The  name  of  Barbes  sounded  in  the 
ears  of  the  people  like  a  tocsin  against  monarchy  and  the  bour- 
geoisie. Barbes  spoke  little  and  without  brilliancy,  but  he  had 
the  tone  of  a  soldier  and  the  faith  of  a  martjT.  He  was  a 
Spartacus  come  from  the  dungeons.  He  resembled  the  statue 
of  the  avenging  slave ;  beautiful,  but  withered  by  irons,  and 
devoured  by  the  inextinguishable  flame  of  revolutions, 

Barbes  spoke  many  times  with  bitterness  to  Lamartine  of 
another  man,  his  rival  in  conspiracy  and  captivity,  whom  a  fatal 
coincidence  of  chances  had  just  delivered,  like  himself,  and 
rendered  suspected  by  his  accomplices.    This  man  was  Blanqui. 


m. 

While  Lamartine  Avas  yet  permanently  seated  at  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  some  partial  hand,  for  the  sake  of  certain  compromised 
men,  had  stolen  several  secret  papers  deposited  in  the  port- 
folios of  the  ministry.  Among  the  papers  was  an  unsigned 
disclosure  made  to  the  king,  respecting  the  plots  of  se- 
cret societies.  This  revelation  was  evidently  the  work  of  a 
superior  and  intelligent  leader  of  these  societies.  This  paper 
had  been  imprudently  exposed  to  the  curiosity  of  a  collector  of 
documents,  who  had  allowed  it  to  circulate.  A  clamor  of  deep 
indignation  had  instantly  accused  Blanqui. 

Blanqui  had  just  opened  a  club.  He  spoke  there  with  talent, 
but  up  to  this  time  with  moderation.  He  directed  it  with  the 
indefatigable  genius  of  conspiracy.  He  gathered  renown  and 
popularity  there,  to  recruit  an  army  of  ultra  opinions. 

These  rumors  reached  even  him,  and  surrounded  him  with 
doubt  and  discontent,  detracted  from  the  influence  of  his  name, 
and  withdrew  the  crowd  who  had  listened  to  him  from  his  club. 
His  old  accomplices,  and  particularly  Barbes,  summoned  him 
to  exculpate  himself,  tried  him,  and  sentenced  him  at  the  bar  of 
republican  opinion.  Blanqui  disappeared  for  several  days  from 
his  club,  like  a  man  contaminated  by  suspicion,  prepared  his 
written  defence,  and  circulated  it  in  Paris. 

His  defence,  without  completely  clearing  him  of  certain 
vague  revelations  touching  things  and  not  persons,  yet  shielded 


84  HISTORY   OF    THE 

him  sufficiently  to  permit  him  to  resume  his  part  and  influence 
in  a  club  composed  of  his  partisans.  He  returned  to  it.  His 
.return  was  made  a  triumph.  The  shadow  which  had  for  a 
moment  fallen  on  him  made  it  imperative  for  him  to  exagger- 
ate his  republicanism,  and  display  more  fire  in  his  passion  in 
the  tribune.  His  club  became  the  focus  of  all  the  exaggera- 
tions and  furies  of  demagogues.  Still,  as  these  exaggerations 
and  bursts  of  fury  were  only  the  play  of  words  and  remi- 
niscences having  no  true  relation  to  the  nature  of  the  people, 
the  revolution,  and  the  times,  men  went  to  this  club  as  they 
go  to  an  historical  theatre  to  see  actors  clothed  in  antique  cos- 
tume represent  upon  the  stage  dramas  or  parodies  of  another 
epoch.  Men  of  the  noblesse  and  the  bourgeoisie,  who  were 
insulted  and  menaced  by  the  orators  of  this  club,  were  present 
from  curiosity  to  hear,  from  a  distance  and  without  fear,  the 
bellowings  of  Babeuf  or  Marat. 

Blanqui  himself  sported  with  the  fear  his  name  occasioned, 
and  played  the  fury  the  more  in  that  he  did  not  feel  it  or  wish  to 
spread  it  among  the  masses.  He  even  flattered  adroitly  with  look 
and  gesture  those  whom  he  threatened  with  his  voice.  He  was 
a  tribune,  but  a  tribune  who  seemed  to  have  more  policy  than 
faith.  A  superior  man,  in  tact,  intellect  and  popular  diplomacy, 
to  all  the  leaders  of  the  moment,  he  disconcerted  by  going 
beyond  them,  and  constantly  challenged  them  to  surpass  him. 

On  leaving  his  club,  he  disappeared  in  the  shade,  did  not 
meddle  with  the  movements  of  the  government,  or  the  multi- 
tude, lived  hidden  in  a  garret,  revealed  his  residence  only  to  a 
small  sect  of  friends  and  satellites,  such  as  Lacambre,  andFlotte, 
and  only  showed  himself  in  the  night,  miserably  clad,  to  inter- 
est the  people  by  displaying,  in  his  person,  the  stains  and 
miseries  of  proletarianism.  His  speech  was  not  eloquent,  but 
it  was  penetrating,  adroit,  and  thoughtful.  A  plan,  a  line, 
means,  and  an  end,  were  perceptible.  His  club  was  not  a  vain 
echo  of  tumultuous  passions,  like  the  other  anti-social  clubs ; 
it  was  a  revolutionary  instrument,  the  stops  of  which  he  man- 
aged with  his  hand,  so  as  to  excite  and  direct  the  passions  of 
the  masses.  Still,  the  pressure  of  good  sense  and  general 
reason  was  then  so  preponderant,  that  Blanqui's  club  gave 
neither  anxiety  nor  terror  to  the  reflecting  members  of  the 
government.  The  talk  held  there  created  a  scandal  useful, 
rather  than  injurious,  to  the  cause  of  the  regular  republic. 
The  actors  in  this  tribune  were  like  the  drunken  helot,  who 


C3 
C 

o 


c 


'  :rary 

-  THE 
UNIVERSI.  /  OF  ILLIKOif 


BEVOLUTION   OF    1848.  85 

was  exhibited  to  the  Spartans  to  disgust  them  with  intemper- 
ance. 

rv. 

Raspail,  less  politic  but  more  sectarian  than  Blanqui,  by  his 
name,  by  his  journal,  and  his  club,  exercised  a  more  moderate 
but  more  intimate  ascendency  over  the  faubourgs.  Fifteen  or 
twenty  thousand  men  of  these  quarters,  the  true  Mount  Aven- 
tine  of  Paris,  attended  his  sessions,  loved  his  person,  and 
enjoyed  his  voice.  Raspail  tended  to  communism  in  his  doc- 
trines and  discourses  ;  but  his  communism  of  sentiment  rather 
than  subversion  was  stamped  with  an  inoffensive  philosophy, 
and  a  practical  charity,  which  aspired  to  equality  by  voluntary 
levelling,  and  not  by  violent  appropriation.  He  excited  the 
people  by  hope,  without  exciting  them  by  hatred  against  the 
rich  and  happy.  His  social  philosophy  contained  no  impreca- 
tions against  society,  still  less  against  government.  He 
preached  patience,  order,  and  peace.  Only  he  promised  more 
than  the  republic  could  keep.  His  vague  and  golden  theo- 
ries were  of  the  nature  of  the  clouds,  which  present  a  thou- 
sand perspectives  to  the  imagination,  but  which  can  be  reached 
only  by  a  look. 

V. 

Cabet,  another  founder  of  a  sect,  had  opened  in  the  centre 
of  Paris,  in  the  rue  Saint  Honore,  a  club,  where  he  ruled  seven 
or  eight  thousand  souls.  He  was  the  poet  of  communism.  He 
had  dreamed  of  a  chimerical  Salentum,  which  he  called  Icaria. 
There,  all  inequalities,  all  indigence,  even  all  asperities  of 
labor,  would  disappear  in  a  fantastic  organization,  whose  ele- 
ments were  only  incoherent  hypotheses,  furnished  by  an  imagi- 
nation not  very  rich,  even  in  idealities. 

The  son  of  an  artisan  of  Dijon,  brought  up  for  the  magis- 
tracy, a  deputy  from  his  native  city  in  1830,  thro\vn  out  of 
politics  by  his  expulsion  from  the  Chamber  in  1834,  banished  to 
Belgium,  returning  to  Paris  after  the  term  of  his  sentence,  Cabet 
had  been  thrown  back  into  the  bosom  of  proletarianism,  from 
which  he  sprung,  to  search  in  it  a  point  of  support  for  his  ideas  ana 
his  action.  The  most  suffering  and  most  ignorant  portion  of 
the  working-men  of  Paris  were  attached  to  his  doctrines.  De- 
lirium is  the  product  and  consolation  of  extreme  sufferings. 
Cabet  was  the  philosopher  and  high  priest  of  this  religion  of 

VOL.  II.  8 


S6  HISTORY   OF   THE 

well-being.  But  this  religion  was  without  God.  The  satisfac- 
tion of  pure  material  instincts,  mechanically  combined  in  an 
inverse  order  to  all  known  social  order,  was  the  whole  of  the 
system.  It  was  not  the  sanguinary,  but  the  gross  worship  of 
alimentary  life.  Idea,  like  divinity,  was  wanting  to  this  world. 
Cabet,  before  the  revolution  of  February,  had  often  come  to 
entertain  Lamartine  with  his  Utopia.  Lamartine  did  not  flatter 
him.  He  rudely  predicted  that  the  soil  of  France  would  rise 
of  itself  against  the  experiment  of  these  chimeras,  and  that 
communism  would  be  engulfed  in  the  first  furrow  it  should 
attempt  to  usurp.  He  had  advised  him  not  to  wait  for  this  day 
of  insurrection  against  the  impossible,  and  to  resume  his  idea 
in  a  regular  and  legal  colonization  and  settlement  in  the  forests 
of  the  new  world. 

"  You  would  thus  commence  by  an  association  of  planters, 
sheltered  by  a  proprietary  civilization,  which  will  protect  you 
against  your  own  anarchy,  as  it  does  the  Quakers,  and  then 
property  will  introduce  itself  into  your  agricultural  colony  ; 
and  if  the  chimera  deceive  you,  the  land  will,  at  least,  nourish 
your  unfortunate  sectaries  !  "  , 

Cabet  had  seized  this  idea.  He  was  going  to  transplant  his 
systems  into  America,  where  he  solicited  a  grant.  The  repub- 
lic had  surprised  him  still  at  Paris.  His  sect  thought  they  saw 
in  it  a  realization  of  their  association  on  the  soil  of  their  coun- 
try. Cabet  sustained  them  in  their  hopes,  and  kept  them  in 
order  and  respect  for  persons  and  property.  Far  from  preach- 
ing insurrection  to  his  adepts,  he  preached  patience  and  the  hor- 
ror of  anarchy  to  them.  He  flattered  himself,  it  was  said,  that 
he  should  win,  by  his  ascendency  over  this  portion  of  the 
people,  that  share  of  the  popular  dictatorship  which  a  revolu- 
tion brings  close  to  every  grasp. 

VI. 

Other  clubs,  governed  by  men  hitherto  less  known,  collected, 
occupied,  and  ^r'*"'''"'!,  every  evening,,the  populous  quarters  of 
Paris.  The  club  of  the  Quinze-Vingts  and  the  club  of  the 
Sorbonne  excited  most  attention  from  the  statesmen  of  govern- 
ment. They  moved  the  most  idle,  numerous,  and  irresponsible 
masses  of  the  laboring  quarters.  The  minister  of  the  interior 
had  his  agents  there,  who  gave  the  minister  a  daily  account  of 
the  spirit  of  these  popular  meetings.  Lamartine  had  them 
watched  on  his  side.     He  neutralized  their  bad  tendencies  by 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  87 

warmly  favoring  their  contrary  tendencies,  and  by  suggestions 
communicated  to  their  orators  against  the  instigations  of  anar- 
chists, communists,  and  foreign  agitators. 

These  foreign  agitators  filled  the  government  with  the  most 
serious  anxiety.  Paris  was  full  of  Polish  refugees,  Belgian 
conspirators,  German  demagogues,  and  Italian  patriots,  awak- 
ened or  attracted  by  the  explosion  of  a  revolution,  which  they 
wished  to  make  a  European  focus  for  the  conflagration  of  the 
entire  continent.  Eight  days  after  the  revohition  there  were 
more  than  fifteen  thousand  of  them  in  Paris.  The  Italians,  a 
more  intelligent  and  a  more  naturally  politic  people,  did  not 
cause  any  embarrassment  to  the  government.  They  did  not 
attempt  to  throw  an  anarchy,  contrary  to  their  natures,  into  a 
new-born  republic,  whose  cradle  they  embraced  with  hope. 
This  republic  would,  sooner  or  later,  if  well  directed,  grow  up 
to  their  advantage,  and  extend  over  them  a  salutary  influence 
and  a  legitimate  protection,  from  the  summit  of  the  Alps. 

But  the  Belgians  were  fermenting.  Their  emissaries  were 
bound  by  preceding  plots  to  some  of  the  secondary  men  who 
surrounded  the  government.  They  darkly  formed  with  them 
plans  for  republican  msurrection  in  Belgium.  They  promised 
to  drag  France,  in  spite  of  herself,  into  the  invasions  which, 
after  having  indirectly  kindled  the  fire  at  Brussels,  Avould  ex- 
tend to  the  Rhenish  provinces,  and  in  thus  fennenting  univer- 
sal war,  would  insure  the  triumph  of  the  war  of  demagogueism 
in  France  itself. 

Irishmen,  united  with  English  chartists,  rushed  to  the  conti- 
nent, and  sought  insurrectionaiy  complicity  in  France,  both 
among  the  demagogues  in  the  name  of  liberty,  and  among  the 
Catholic  party  in  the  name  of  Catholicism. 

The  German  refugees  from  the  Rhenish  provinces,  from 
Wurtemburg,  from  Bavaria,  and  the  grand  duchy  of  Baden, 
summoned  in  mass  those  of  their  countrj^men  who  had  con- 
spired with  them,  in  these  different  countries,  to  recruit  and 
organize  at  Paris  and  Strasburg  a  body  of  republican  emigra- 
tion, ready  to  cross  the  Rhine  under  the  apparent  authority  of 
the  French  name,  and  thus  to  engage  the  republic  in  a  war  of 
propagandism  against  constitutional  Germany. 

The  Poles,  finally,  an  expatriated  people,  who  adopt  the  uni- 
verse for  their  country,  and  carry  into  all  the  countries  of  their 
adoption  the  virtues  and  vices  of  this  great  and  unfortunate 
people, — heroism,  turbulence,  and  anarchy,  —  stirred  upto  delir- 
itjm  the  people  of  Paris,     France,  doubtless,  owed  much  to  this 


88  HISTORY   OF    THE 

brave  nation  in  ruins,  but  she  did  not  owe  them  her  j-whcy,  and 
a  breach  of  the  peace  of  the  world. 

The  Poles  exacted  nothing  less  of  government.  Not  being 
able  to  obtain  it  from  government,  they  aspired  to  pluck  it  from 
the  people.  During  the  eighteen  years  which  had  just  passed 
away,  the  French  Chambers,  rather  from  compulsion  than  con- 
viction, had  incorporated,  at  the  opening  of  each  session,  a 
sterile  promise  for  Poland.  The  promises  of  a  great  people 
are  mockeries,  when  they  are  only  words  without  deeds.  France 
could  only  reach  Poland  by  the  hand  of  Germany,  and  in  a 
general  remodelling  of  the  continent.  Polish  committees  were 
formed  ;  some  touched  with  noble  pity  for  these  exiles  of  lib- 
erty, others  hurrying  to  secure,  for  the  benefit  of  their  own 
names,  the  popularity  attached  to  that  of  Poland. 

VII. 

Strong  in  this  support,  the  Polish  refugees  fanned  the  flame 
of  war  in  the  clubs,  and  themselves  fonned  clubs  more  incen- 
diary than  the  French.  Some  abused  hospitality,  and  set  fire 
to  the  asylum  France  had  afforded  them.  They  made  use  of 
the  supplies  of  France  to  agitate  and  draw  her  into  insurrec- 
tion and  anarchy.  The  secret  Polish  society,  whose  assemblies 
the  government  penetrated,  resumed  at  Paris  the  language  and 
traditions  of  1793.  The  name  of  Lamartine,  particularly, 
was  here  given  up  nightly  to  execration  and  the  justice  of 
assassins,  as  that  of  the  man  who  offered  the  most  inflexible 
resistance  to  the  plots  of  foreign  demagogues  against  the  new 
republic.  In  these  first  weeks  glimpses  of  the  plan  and  crime 
of  the  15th  of  May  following  were  visible. 

The  other  Polish  refugees  followed  the  patriotic  suggestions 
of  Prince  Czartoriski,  and  the  other  refugee  chiefs  and  gen- 
erals. Their  conduct  was  worthy  of  the  respect  they  bore  to 
their  own  cause  and  to  France.  They  contented  themselves 
with  turning  their  eyes  towards  their  country,  and  asking  the 
liberty  to  go  back  and  die  there  for  their  independence,  as  soon 
as  a  door  should  be  opened  for  their  entrance. 

Meanwhile,  Europe  seemed  balanced  between  the  terrorwhich 
the  revolution  of  Paris  inspired,  and  the  hope  of  the  possibility 
of  peace  which  the  manifesto  of  the  provisional  government  per- 
mitted her  to  cherish.  The  American  minister  had  been  the 
first  to  recognize  the  French  republic,  by  anticipating  the  orders 
of  his  government,  and  by  the  sole  authority  of  a  community 


KEVOLUTION    OF   184S.  SS 

of  institutions.  Switzerland,  whom  the  French  revolution  for- 
tified by  an  immense  weight  against  the  almost  violent  pressure 
of  Austria,  showed  less  favorable  dispositions.  The  minister 
of  foreign  affairs  was  astonished  to  see  the  French  republic  less 
courteously  treated  at  Berne  than  at  Berlin.  He  could  not  con- 
ceal from  himself  that  this  coldness  of  Switzerland,  for  whom 
France  had  just  shown  so  much  warmth,  in  the  last  parliament- 
ary discussions,  belonged,  perhaps,  to  that  egotism  of  mercan- 
tile democracies  which  calculate  more  than  they  feel. 

It  was  evident  that  Switzerland,  geographically  placed  be- 
tween Germany  and  Italy,  feared  being  agitated  by  this  contact, 
and  forced  to  expend  her  repose,  her  gold,  and  her  blood,  for 
the  cause  of  other  independence  than  her  own.  Lamartine, 
who  meditated  an  approaching  triple  alliance  of  republican 
France,  constitutional  Italy,  and  federal  Switzerland,  to  sustain, 
if  necessary,  the  weight  of  the  north,  was  bitterly  disappointed, 
and  deeply  humiliated,  for  the  sake  of  liberty,  at  the  attitude 
of  Switzerland.  Still  she  performed  no  act  of  disaffection  to 
France,  and  officially  recognized  the  republic. 

VIII. 

The  couriers,  who  arrived  successively  from  all  parts  of 
Europe,  announced  everj-Avhere  the  acceptance  of  the  mani- 
festo as  the  basis  of  an  incontestable  policy,  and  as  a  tj'pe  of 
the  character  which  the  new  French  republic  wished  to  offer 
to  the  world.  The  ambassadors  and  the  ministers  of  all  the 
powers  received  orders  from  their  governments  to  continue  to 
reside  at  Paris,  and  to  entertain  official  and  cordial  relations 
with  the  republican  minister  of  foreign  affairs.  These  inter- 
views, which  circumstances  multiplied,  gave  room  for  frequent 
communications  between  the  ambassadors  and  the  minister  of 
foreign  affairs.  These  interviews  in  which  the  minister  dis- 
played openly,  and  without  reserve,  the  high  republican,  but 
loyally  inoffensive,  intentions  of  the  government,  powerfully 
contributed  to  the  maintenance  of  peace.  In  the  absence  of 
diplomatic  notes,  which  the  cessation  of  official  reports  ren- 
dered impracticable,  the  cabinet  of  foreign  affairs  was  a  perma- 
nent and  preparatory  congress,  a  direct  negotiation  with  all 
the  courts,  to  which  the  ambassadors  transmitted  the  words  and 
views  exchanged  between  them  and  the  minister  of  the  repub- 
lic. These  verbal  negotiations  between  men  who  questioned 
each  other,  and  opened  their  hearts,  on  the  very  theatre  of 

VOL.  II.  &* 


90 


HISTORY    OF    THE 


events,  advanced  matters  more  than  notes  exchanged  at  a  dis- 
tance during  years  of  negotiation.  Paper  has  no  heart.  Language 
has.  The  Ireart  goes  for  something,  even  in  negotiating  the 
great  interests  of  empires. 


IX. 

As  soon  as  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs  had  ascertained 
certainly  the  favorahle  dispositions  of  these  governments,  he 
appointed  the  ambassadors  and  ministers  of  the  republic.  M. 
d'Harcouvt,  an  old  peer  of  France,  a  man  of  personal  dignity 
equal  to  his  great  name,  was  appointed  ambassador  'to  Eome. 
This  choice,  although  very  liberal,  had  in  it  nothing  revolution- 
ary. It  announced  to  the  ancient  French  aristocracy,  to  reli- 
gious men  in  France,  and  to  the  sovereign  pontiff,  that  the 
rep\iblic  wished  to  treat  the  spiritual  chief  of  Catholicism  with 
the  respect  which  belongs  to  the  representative  of  a  large  party 
of  consciences.  The  Pope,  on  his  part,  gave  his  assurance, 
through  his  minister  at  Paris,  that  he  had  no  preferences  as  to 
forms  of  government.  His  words  were  benedictions,  and  not 
anathemas  against  the  republic.  The  French  government 
replied  with  frankness  to  these  overtures,  and  avowed  to  him, 
that  the  tendency  of  the  republic  was  towards  the  separation, 
more  or  less  at  hand,  of  the  temporal  and  spiritual  authority, 
the  suppression  of  the  intervention  of  the  state  in  the  admin- 
istration and  salary  of  worship ;  but  it  assured  him,  at  the 
same  time,  that  the  republic  was  eminently  religious  in  its 
spirit ;  that  this  great  and  necessary  transformation  would  not 
be  effected  until  after  having  provided  for  the  support  of  the 
ministers  of  worship,  and  for  the  service  of  churches  and  con- 
sciences, by  organizing  a  free  association  of  the  faithful  for 
their  religious  wants.  This  change  of  the  salary  from  the 
state  to  the  free  salary  from  associations  for  their  own  form 
of  worship,  would  only  operate  by  way  of  suppressing  the 
ministers  of  the  different  communions.  Faith  would  gain  by 
it  in  purity,  individual  belief  in  liberty,  the  mass  of  consciences 
in  elevation  and  respect.  This  was  the  key-stone  of  the  arch 
of  the  revolution  ;  for  the  thorough  emancipation  of  worship  is 
the  liberty  of  God  in  the  soul. 

Rome,  and  the  superior  men  of  the  clergy,  did  not  appear  at 
all  terrified  at  these  avowals,  and  at  the  philosophical  tendency 
of  the  ne  v  republic.     They  saw  in  them  safety,  dignity,  and 


REVOLUTION    OF    1343.  91 

an  increase  of  power,  but  of  the  power  adapted  to  the  empire 
of  the  religious  sentiment  over  the  heart. 

The  minister  of  foreign  affairs  spoke  in  the  same  terms  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  a  man  truly  pious,  and  capable  of 
comprehending  higher  destinies  for  his  church  than  a  union, 
equally  tyrannical  and  servile,  with  governments. 

X. 

General  Aupick  was  nominated  to  the  embassy  of  Constan- 
tinople. He  had  been  attached  for  a  long  time  to  princes,  but 
the  members  of  the  government,  and  the  minister  of  the  in- 
terior himself,  marked  him  with  confidence  to  represent  the 
republic  at  one  of  the  most  important  points  abroad.  His  first 
fidelity  was  to  his  country.  A  high  military  capacity,  and  a 
sure  and  reflective  spirit,  fitted  General  Aupick  for  a  post 
where  the  diplomacies  of  the  world  might  contend  to  thwart 
each  other.  They  only  inquired  respecting  his  capacity  for  the 
post,  —  they  vvere  certain  of  his  conscientiousness. 

The  post  of  London  received  at  first  a  simple  charge  d'affaires, 
in  order  to  avoid,  by  the  absence  of  every  agent  of  a  too  ele- 
vated rank,  all  occasion  for  coolness  between  two  great  govern- 
ments, which  have  a  strong  desire  for  conciliation,  to  preserve 
the  peace  of  the  world,  and  that  chicanery  might  not  imbitter 
and  divide  them.  At  a  later  period,  Lamartine  sent  there 
M.  de  Tallenay,  minister  at  Hamburg,  a  man  of  experienced 
diplomacy,  acquainted  with  England,  of  an  open,  conciliating, 
and  affable  character,  suited  to  confidential  conversations  with 
statesmen  of  the  monarchical  school,  and  to  prepare  modestly 
the  paths  for  official  negotiations,  when  the  recognition  of  the 
republic  should  permit  him  to  use  his  powers. 

But  the  daily  conversations  of  the  English  ambassador. 
Lord  Normanby,  with  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  and  the 
unconcealed  cordiality  of  their  intercourse,  made  the  French 
ambassador  at  London  superfluous.  Lord  Pahnerston  and  the 
English  cabinet  appear  to  have  understood,  with  a  lofty  wis- 
dom, the  pacific,  moderate,  and  civilized  character  of  the  re- 
public, directed  abroad  in  a  spirit  of  respect  and  inviolability 
for  the  different  institutions  of  nations.  A  contrary  attitude 
of  the  English  government  would  have  revived  the  anti- 
British  prejudice,  which  Lamartine,  as  well  as  Mirabeau, 
Lafayette,  and  Talleyrand,  wished  to  quench  and  wear  out  in 
France.      England,  by  accepting  the  fraternity  offered  with 


92  HISTORY    OF    THE 

dignity  by  the  republic,  deserved  well  of  humanity.  The 
ministry  of  Lord  Palmerston  will  reap  the  fruit  of  it  in  history. 
The  minister  of  the  republic  knew  that  no  serious  coalition 
was  possible  against  France,  upon  the  continent,  without  the 
concurrence  and  pay  of  England.  He  did  not  wish,  at  any 
cost,  to  give  to  the  English  aristocracy  a  pretext  to  force  the 
English  cabinet  into  a  crusade  against  the  republic.  To  gain 
time  was,  for  him,  to  gain  blood  and  strength  for  France.  If. 
at  a  later  period,  causes  of  dissensions  and  wars  must  arise,  he 
desired  that  those  dissensions  and  those  wars  should  find  France 
ir.  the  right,  and  the  republic  armed.  Then,  this  was  not  the 
case,  A  coalition  would  have  surprised,  and  perhaps  have  de- 
stroyed it. 

That  was  one  of  the  reasons  for  which  the  minister  of  the 
republic  resisted,  with  inflexible  energy,  the  idea  of  the  inva- 
sion of  Belgium  by  the  disloyal  madmen  who  never  ceased  to 
reproach  him  for  having  anticipated  them  on  that  frontier.  He 
repulsed  all  intercourse  with  the  Belgian  republicans,  who  had 
come  to  Paris  to  concert  this  scheme  with  the  French  republi- 
cans of  the  old  school.  He  had  sent  to  Brussels  many  confi- 
dential agents,  with  orders  to  observe  the  true  state  of  opinion, 
and  to  allay,  instead  of  fomenting,  the  excitement  roused  by  the 
demagogues  of  that  capital.  The  principal  of  these  agents,  a 
man  of  zeal,  but  recently  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  Europe, 
appeared  to  him  to  give  umbrage  at  Brussels.  The  minister 
recalled  him,  without  hesitation.  He  sent,  in  his  place,  a  man 
of  experience  and  moderation,  M.  Bellocq,  an  old  diplomatist, 
skilled  in  the  management  of  delicate  affairs. 

The  inconvenience,  for  the  French  republic,  of  having  at 
Brussels  a  king  united  by  ties  of  blood  to  the  dynasty  which 
had  fallen  in  France,  was  only  a  susceptibility  unworthy  of 
the  republic.  An  invasion  of  Belgium,  and  its  junction  to 
France,  at  this  moment,  was  a  premature  and  impolitic  decla- 
ration of  war  against  England.  Such  a  grievance,  offered  to 
England,  would  prostrate,  in  an  instant,  the  liberal  ministry  at 
London,  and  throw  England  into  a  coalition.  France  would 
have  been  neither  more  nor  less  strong  by  the  accession  of 
Belgium  to  its  cause.  Respect  towards  that  nation  acquired 
for  the  republic  the  inactivity  of  England,  the  silence  of  Ger- 
many, and  the  respect  of  the  world. 

Tlae  minister  watched,  with  an  attentive  eye,  the  conspiracies 
which  were  plotting  at  Paris  to  unite  these  two  causes.  His 
conversations  with  the  Prince  de  Ligne,  in  which  he  manifested 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  93 

his  feelings  of  prudence  and  loyalty,  and  the  confidence  which 
this  ambassador  of  the  King  of  Belgium  reposed  in  him  con- 
tributed powerfully  to  prevent  propagandist  designs  injurious 
to  both  people,  to  the  peace  of  Europe,  and  to  the  republic 
itself. 

He  nominated  to  Holland  M.  de  Lurde,  who  was  familiar 
with  the  diplomacy  of  the  north,  and  the  double  influences, 
which,  from  St.  Petersburg  and  London,  were  disputing  at 
the  court  of  the  Hague. 

At  Berne  he  appointed  M.  de  Thiard,  a  man  of  aristocratic 
name,  of  enlarged  mind,  of  a  practised  eye,  and  devoted,  since 
the  end  of  the  emigration  and  the  fall  of  the  empire,  to  the 
liberal  opposition.  The  veterans  of  this  party,  in  the  National, 
considered  an  embassy  offered  to  M.  de  Thiard  as  a  pledge 
given  for  their  opinion.  The  minister  of  foreign  affairs  believed 
him  very  well  suited  to  carry  out  the  diplomacy,  republican 
indeed,  but  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  the  demagogue,  which  he 
desired  to  have  prevail.  He  recommended  to  him  to  observe 
the  greatest  respect  towards  Switzerland,  whose  cordiality  he 
wished  to  obtain,  as  the  preliminary  of  an  alliance.  He  did 
not  succeed  so  well  as  he  could  have  desired.  "Whether  the 
ambassador  did  not  make  this  inclination  of  France  towards 
Switzerland  sufficiently  understood,  or  whether  Switzerland 
feared  to  compromise  herself  with  a  republic  which  had  been 
only  a  few  days  in  existence,  it  was  equally  a  misfortune  for 
both  countries,  and  above  all  for  Italy.  A  system  of  pacific 
alliance  rested  on  this  idea.  The  system  has  been  postponed 
by  this  coldness  of  Switzerland,  compromised  by  the  battles  of 
Goito  and  Novare.  It  will  revive,  from  the  nature  of  things, 
under  more  intelligent  and  enlightened  governments.  Swit- 
zerland will  repent  her  hesitations  and  her  delays. 

M.  Bixio  was  sent  as  charge  d'affaires  to  Turin.  The  uncer- 
tainty of  the  relations  between  this  court,  thus  far  sacerdotal 
and  absolutist,  and  the  French  republic,  did  not  allow  the  ap- 
pointment of  an  ambassador  or  a  minister. 

M.  Bixio  elevated  his  functions  by  his  high  intelligence 
and  patriotism.  New  to  affairs,  he  showed  that  one  is  born 
a  diplomatist.  His  mission  was  delicate,  precisely  because 
it  was  loyal.  He  must  inspire,  in  the  court  of  Turin,  favorable 
dispositions  towards  France,  without  urging  it  even  by  gesture 
to  a  war  against  Austria,  —  a  war  towards  which  its  impatient 
ambition  drew  it  but  too  rashly.  He  must  give  confidence  and 
authority  to  the  constitutional  and  liberal  party  in  Italy,  with- 


94  HISTORY    OF    THE 

out  caressing  or  exciting  the  republican  party,  —  a  party  prema- 
ture and  ruinous  hr  the  emancipation  of  Italy. 

The  unforeseen  chances  and  contradictory  fortunes  of  Pied- 
mont and  Lombardy  put  to  difficult  tests  the  tact  of  this  young 
diplomatist.  He  did  not  commit  a  single  fault,  in  a  situation 
where  the  most  consummate  negotiators  might  have  been  misled. 
France  had  not  a  drop  of  blood  to  answer  for,  on  acount  of  his 
diplomacy  in  Piedmont  and  in  Lombardy.  Italy  did  not  receive 
a  counsel  with  which  she  could  legitimately  reproach  France. 
M.  Bixio,  an  Italian  by  extraction,  a  Frenchman  in  heart,  carried 
in  his  bearing  the  feelings  of  both  his  countries.  The  minister 
was  about  to  elevate  him  to  the  highest  functions,  when  the 
National  Assembly  was  opened.  M.  Bixio  desired  to  enter  it. 
He  devoted  himself,  in  the  days  of  June,  like  a  soldier  of  the 
vanguard.  He  shed  his  blood  in  streams  for  the  republic. 
Appointed  a  minister,  after  the  election  of  the  president,  he 
retired  after  a  few  days,  from  some  susceptibility  of  honor, 
which  has  been  imperfectly  explained.  His  fitness  for  negotia- 
tions has  been  displayed.     He  should  be  recalled  to  it. 

M.  de  Boissy  was  named  minister  at  Florence.  An  old  diplo- 
matist, he  was  familiar  with  Tuscany.  His  wife,  born  at  Raven- 
na, was  celebrated  for  her  beauty,  enthusiasm,  and  patriotism. 
Her  name  alone  negotiated  with  the  high  liberalism  of  central 
Italy.  She  was  united  in  literary  friendship  with  all  the  illustri- 
ous patriots  of  the  Roman  States,  of  Pisa,  Venice  and  Florence. 
M.  de  Boissy,  a  man  of  the  greatest  boldness,  had  resolutely 
adopted  the  republic.  He  showed  himself  at  Paris  as  coura- 
geous in  person  to  defend  it  against  the  demagogues,  as  he  was 
suited,  by  his  splendor  of  living  and  the  aristocracy  of  his  name, 
to  serve  it  abroad.  He  did  not  set  out  for  his  post,  more  anx- 
ious to  enter  the  National  Assembly,  and  again  to  find  a  tribune, 
than  to  figure  in  a  c6urt.  He  was  replaced  near  the  Grand 
Duke  of  Tuscany,  by  M.  Benoit  Champy,  allied  to  M.  de  La- 
mennais,  and  patronized  by  that  illustrious  and  popular  name. 
This  choice  was  fortunate.  The  man  was  found  worthy  of 
the  enlightened  and  liberal  prince,  who  made  of  Tuscany  a 
republic,  or  rather  a  family,  by  the  free  and  gentle  administra- 
tion of  his  government.  M.  Benoit  Champy  caused  the  French 
republic  to  be  loved  by  this  very  prince,  whom  the  reaction 
would  some  days  after  expel  from  his  states.  His  counsels, 
more  energetically  followed,  would  have  preserved  Tuscany 
from  this  grief  and  this  reaction  against  the  centre  of  Italy. 


EEVOLUTION    OF    1843.  *  06 


XL 


Madrid  was  one  of  the  courts,  where  it  was  very  difficult  to 
adapt  an  envoy  of  France  to  the  situation  of  Spain.  General 
Narvaez,  a  man  very  superior  to  the  soldier-like  renown  which 
they  have  ascribed  to  him  abroad,  was,  for  Spain,  a  sort  of 
military  Eichelieu,  all-powerful  in  the  second  ^^.x.k  Under  a 
court  divided  and  plunged  in  pleasures,  Narvaez  had  studied, 
with  a  dark  and  silent  anxiety,  from  the  first  moment,  the  char- 
acter of  the  French  revolution.  Judging  France  by  Spain,  he 
believed  that  the  civil  war  would  choose  chiefs  from  among  the 
princes  and  generals  of  the  house  of  Orleans,  In  anticipation 
of  these  events,  in  which  Spain  would  have  a  part  to  play,  in 
consequence  of  her  family  connections  with  the  dynasty  of 
July,  he  had  explained  himself  with  a  vexing  ambiguity,  and 
had  concentrated  troops  in  the  direction  of  the  Pyrenees.  The 
manifesto  of  the  provisional  government,  and  the  explanations 
of  its  minister  with  the  charge  d'affaires  of  Spain  at  Paris,  had 
changed  the  dispositions  of  Narvaez.  The  intrigues  of  France 
and  England  at  Madrid  agitated  Spain,  and  constantly  dis- 
quieted the  general  as  to  the  duration  of  his  authority.  La- 
martine,  by  withdrawing  the  hand  of  France  from  these  in- 
trigues, and  by  leaving  Spain  to  her  internal  independence, 
tranquillized  the  Spanish  government.  He  left  to  Narvaez  only 
the  struggle  with  England.  The  result  of  such  a  policy  was 
what  it  should  be ;  France  no  longer  gave  cause  for  umbrage, 
and  was  the  more  courted,  as  she  was  less  encroaching. 

Yet,  to  carry  out  this  system,  there  should  not  be  appointed 
at  Madrid  a  too  zealous  republican,  who  would  cause  discon- 
tent with  the  constitution,  and  excite  the  fermentations  of  the 
powerless  republicanism  in  Catalonia;  nor  a  military  name, — 
it  would  revive  the  reminiscences  of  the  war  of  independence; 
nor  a  diplomatist  of  July,  —  too  lukewarm  for  the  republic,  he 
might  allow  himself  to  be  softened  by  a  too  fresh  attachment 
tc  the  house  of  Orleans,  and  to  shut  his  eyes  upon  the  attempt? 
at  the  restoration  of  that  dynasty  in  France,  plotting,  perhaps, 
at  that  palace  of  Madrid  or  Seville  which  the  Duke  of  Mont- 
pensier  was  about  to  occupy.  The  minister  of  foreign  affairij 
had  met,  in  M.  de  Lesseps,  consul-general  of  France  at  Bar- 
celona, a  man  skilled  in  the  Spanish  character,  agreeable  to 
Narvaez,  and  devoted  to  his  own  instructions.  He  nominated 
him  to  Madrid.  The  mutual  distrusts  were  dissipated.  Re- 
pugnances fell  before  the  well  understood  interests  of  the  two 


« 


96  HISTORY   OF   THE 

people.  Never  had  France  and  Spain  more  completely  returned 
to  their  nature,  which  draws  them  together,  when  a  false 
policy  does  not  separate  them.  General  Narvaez  well  under- 
stood the  spirit  of  France.  The  attraction  of  the  two  people 
for  each  other  could  be  freely  developed.  The  provisional 
government  spared  the  country  the  assembling  of  the  army  of 
the  Pyrenees,  better  guarded  by  the  security  of  our  relations^ 
and  by  reciprocal  loyalty,  than  by  force. 

XII. 

The  state  of  Italy  was  not  yet  discovered.  The  minister  of 
the  republic  foresaw  it.  The  position  of  France  which  would 
result  from  it  would  not  allow  her  to  establish  intimate  nego- 
tiations with  Austria. 

M.  de  Metternich  yet  reigned  at  Vienna,  without  suspecting 
the  volcano  which  he  had  under  his  feet.  This  great  minister 
had  not  grown  old  in  mind,  but  he  had  suffered  his  character 
to  be  softened  by  the  long  prosperity  of  his  empire.  He  be- 
lieved in  the  immortality  of  the  Germanic  aristocracy,  and 
trusted  in  his  own  genius.  Great,  serene,  happy,  affable,  for 
several  years  he  had  left  everything  to  fortune.  This  long- 
continued  good  fortune  was  a  snare.  Lamartine  had  an  intui- 
tive knowledge  of  it.  He  knew  not  what  wind  of  decline  had 
blown,  for  several  years,  from  the  cabinet  of  Vienna,  Hungary, 
Gallicia,  Poland,  Bohemia,  Lombardy,  and  Venice, —  all  these 
badly-cemented  portions  of  the  empire,  with  the  empire  itself, 
seemed  to  tend  to  dissolution.  France,  which  did  not  wish  to 
constrain  anything  on  this  side,  was  willing  to  accept  of  every- 
thing from  fortune. 

The  first  collisions  of  the  French  republic  with  the  conti- 
nent would  commence  by  Italy  or  Switzerland.  Thus  the 
war  of  principle  existed,  thougla  it  was  not  declared,  between 
Vienna  and  Paris ;  or,  rather,  it  was  neither  war  nor  peace, 
but  a  mixed  attitude,  which  partook  of  both  these  orders  of 
things.  The  government  did  not  seek,  by  false  pretences,  to 
mask  this  situation.  It  neither  wished  to  deceive  M.  de  Met 
ternich,  by  subterfuges,  without  good  faith,  nor  to  be  deceived 
itself.  It  avowed  frankly  this  disposition  of  the  republic,  to 
M.  d'Apponi,  the  Austrian  ambassador  at  Paris.  Loyal  and 
chivalrous,  as  a  man  of  the  north,  he  was  contented  that  France 
should  leave  at  Vienna  a  charge  d'affaires  loved  by  old  Ger- 
many, and  by  the  court,  to  listen  and  observe,  without  acting  • 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  97 

for  to  act  Avould  have  been  to  deceive.  The  diplomacy  of  the 
republic  did  not  wish  to  deceive  any  one,  not  even  its  natural 
enemy,  Austria. 

A  less  fortunate  choice  was  made  at  Naples,  on  the  faith  of 
the  party  of  the  Natioyial,  whose  abilities  the  republic  desired 
to  employ,  and  whose  ambition  it  was  willing  to  gratify.  The 
secretary  of  legation  whom  it  nominated  near  that  court,  and 
to  whom  it  gave  instructions  conformable  to  its  design  for  a 
confederation  of  Italy,  which  design  did  not  exclude  thrones, 
broke  entirely  from  the  line  of  action  which  the  minister  of 
the  republic  had  marked  for  him.  Apparently  taking  his  direc- 
tions either  from  the  party  of  the  radical  propaganda  at  Paris 
or  from  the  extreme  parties  at  Naples,  he  held  the  language 
and  attitude  of  those  envoys  of  the  Convention  whose  mission 
was  to  outrage  kings,  and  disseminate  fanaticism  among  the 
people.  Admiral  Baudin,  who  commanded  the  fleet  at  Naples, 
better  understood  the  dignity  of  the  republic.  He  repressed, 
as  much  as  was  in  his  power,  these  excesses  of  zeal.  The 
charge  d'affaires  was  recalled.  They  sent,  in  his  place,  a  man 
of  moderation  and  wisdom,  M.  de  Bois-le-Comte.  He  had 
been  a  fellow-laborer  with  M.  Buchez,  in  the  vast  historical 
work  on  our  first  revolution  ;  he  had  borne  the  weight  of 
details,  and  studied  the  true  sense  of  the  new  republican  diplo- 
macy, in  the  cabinet  of  the  minister,  since  the  twenty-fourth 
of  February.     He  was  sent  afterwards  to  Turin. 

Lamartine  desired  that  the  republic  should  communicate 
with  St.  Petersburg.  He  was  convinced  that  there  was  no 
other  incompatibility  between  the  two  powers,  save  the  state  of 
Poland.  It  was  on  that  point  alone  that  the  two  people  could 
come  in  collision,  not  from  territorial  interest,  but  from  a  moral 
antipathy.  In  Europe,  the  first  execution  of  the  treaties  of 
Vienna,  and  the  proper  and  free  institution^'  restored  by  the 
Emperor  of  Russia  to  the  kingdom  of  Polau  1,  could  permit 
both  policies  to  be  reconciled  with  honor  and  security  for  all. 
There  was  need  of  time  and  reflection.  Lamaitine  should 
not  venture  his  opinions,  and  the  dignity  of  the  rfpublic,  by 
envoys,  who  would  meet,  perhaps,  with  a  cold  reception  at  St. 
Petersburg.  He  left  there  a  simple  secretary  of  the  embassy, 
nominated  by  the  minister  of  the  monarchy,  without  any  politi- 
cal mission.  He  had,  in  the  minister  of  the  emperor  at  Paris, 
a  kind  and  able  interpreter,  favoring  the  views  of  the  emperor, 
and  those  of  France.  The  reserved  and  unfrequent  inter- 
course never  had   an  accent  of  bitterness.     Collisions  do  not 

VOL.  11.  9 


9S  HISTORY   OF    THE 

occur  SO  far  apart,  unless  wished  for  oh  accoant  of  antipathy 
or  of  system.  The  emperor  was  too  just,  the  republic  too  wise, 
not  to  look  upon  each  other  with  composure. 

But  the  post  to  which  the  minister  ascribed,  at  this  moment, 
the  most  importance,  was  Berlin ;  the  central  support  of  the 
equilibrium  of  the  continent  was  still,  as  in  1791,  in  that  cabi- 
net. Eussia,  England,  and  Germany,  on  the  north,  met  there 
and  disputed  the  decisive  favor  of  a  powerful  military  monarchy, 
and  of  a  public  spirit  preponderating  in  the  cabinet  of  a  philo- 
sophical king,  who  was  adventurous,  flexible,  making  a  com- 
mencement in  reform,  bold  in  new  emergencies,  capable  of 
comprehending  all,  risking  all,  and  daring  all.  The  knot  of 
European  peace  and  war,  of  the  emancipation  and  reconstruc- 
tion of  Germany,  of  the  peaceful  and  partial  regeneration  of 
Poland,  was  to  be  unravelled  at  Berlin.  The  first  word  which 
the  King  of  Prussia  should  speak  respecting  the  French  repub- 
lic would  be  surely  the  word  of  the  whole  continent.  None 
would  dare  to  say  war,  when  he  should  ?ay  peace.  One  may 
conceive  with  what  interest  Lamartine,  who  desired  peace, 
was  listening  for  what  word  should  be  placed  upon  the  lips  of 
the  King  of  Prussia,  by  the  genius  of  humanity,  and  the  favor- 
able predispositions  to  the  revolution  at  Paris. 

XIII. 

He  sought  and  immediately  found  the  man  fitted  to  personify, 
at  first  confidentially,  afterwards  officially,  at  Berlin,  the  philo- 
sophical tendency,  Germanic  science,  and  the  far-sighted  diplo- 
macy of  the  new  French  revolution,  represented  at  that  court 
by  a  mind  almost  universal. 

This  man,  little  known  up  to  this  time  beyond  the  aristocratic, 
literary,  and  lear'.ed  world,  was  named  M.  de  Circourt.  He 
had  served,  under  the  restoration,  in  diplomacy.  The  revolution 
of  .luly  had  thrown  him  back  into  isolation,  and  into  the  oppo- 
sition, nearer  to  legitimacy  than  to  democracy.  He  had  profited 
by  these  years  to  deliver  himself  to  studies  which  would  have 
absorbed  many  lives  of  common  men,  but  which  were  only  the 
recreations  of  his.  Languages,  races,  geography,  history,  phi- 
losophy, voyages,  constitutions,  religions  of  all  people,  from  the 
infancy  of  the  world  up  to  our  days,  from  Thibet  to  the  Alps,  — 
he  had  imbued  himself  with  all,  and  reflected  upon  and  remem- 
bered all.  One  could  interrogate  him  upon  all  the  facts  and 
ideas  of  which  the  world  is  composed,  without  his  having  need 


REVOLUTION    OF    18-13. 


99 


to  reply  by  consulting  other  books  than  his  memory  ;  with  the 
breadth,  extent,  and  immense  depth  of  an  understanding  to 
which  none  ever  found  either  sounding  or  hmits ;  a  living  chart 
of  human  knowledge ;  a  man  who  was  all  head,  and  whose 
head  was  equal  to  all  truths  ;  impartial,  moreover,  indifferent 
between  systems,  like  a  being  who  should  be  purely  an  intelli- 
gence, and  belong  to  human  nature  only  by  the  look  and  by 
curiosity. 

!M.  de  Circourt  had  espoused  a  young  Russian  female,  of 
aristocratic  race,  and  of  European  spirit.  He  had  a  hold  by 
her  upon  whatever  was  eminent  in  the  literature,  or  in  the 
courts,  of  Gennany  and  of  the  north.  He  had  himself  resided 
at  Berlin,  where  he  had  formed  connections  with  statesmen. 
The  King  of  Prussia,  a  lettered  and  liberal  sovereign,  had  hon- 
ored him  with  a  certain  intimacy  at  his  court.  M.  de  Circourt, 
without  being  a  republican  at  heart,  was  enough  struck  by  the 
vast  horizon  which  a  French  republic,  the  offspring  of  the  pro- 
gressive and  pacific  genius  of  modem  France,  might  open  to 
the  human  mind,  to  salute  and  to  serve  it.  He  comprehended, 
like  Lamartine,  that  liberty  had  need  of  peace,  and  that  peace 
was  at  Berlin  and  at  London. 

Lamartine  gave  him,  in  writing,  his  confidential  instructions 
for  the  ear  of  the  King  of  Prussia  and  his  ministers.  These 
instructions  were  no  more  at  bottom  than  that  philosophy  of 
peace  common  to  all  souls  enlightened  by  a  divine  ray  ;  philos- 
ophy converted  into  politics  by  the  accordance  of  ideas  between 
the  heart  of  a  king  and  the  mind  of  a  minister  of  a  great  new- 
bom  democracy.  ]\L  de  Circourt  was  capable  of  commenting 
upon  the  instructions,  and  adapting  them  to  the  genius  of  a 
court,  and  to  the  contingencies  of  Geraian^'.  The  alliance,  at 
least  tacit,  betAveen  Germany  and  France  ;  the  inviolability  of 
territorj^ ;  the  tendency  to  a  moral  unity  in  Germany,  which 
would  decentralize  the  smaller  states  from  the  exclusive  influ- 
ence of  Austria ;  the  powerful  arbitration  of  Prussia  between 
German  independence  and  the  pressure  of  Russia ;  the  restitu- 
tion of  a  moral  part  of  constitutional  nationality  to  dismembered 
but  still  living  Poland,  formed  the  texts,  scarcely  indicated,  of 
this  document. 

M.  de  Circourt  took  his  departure.  He  kept  up  with  the 
minister  of  foreign  affairs  an  intimate  correspondence,  which 
would  forni  a  volume  on  the  state  of  the  north.  He  did  not 
make  a  single  error  of  foresight.  He  inclined  the  heart  and 
mind  of  the  Kin^  of  Prussia  to  all  the  ideas  of  reconciliation 


100  HISTORY   OF   THE   REVOLUTION   OF    1848. 

and  equilibrium  which  were  for  the  true  interests  of  the  two 
states.  When  the  revolution  of  Berlin  broke  out,  the  French 
republic  no  longer  needed  a  revolution  at  Berlin,  in  order  to  see 
there  the  triumph  of  the  cause  of  peace  and  humanity,  which 
M.  de  Circourt  had  gone  there  to  defend.  Lamartine  and  his 
envoy  in  Prussia  lamented  more  than  they  rejoiced  in  a  revo- 
lution, which,  in  urging  the  king  beyond  his  thoughts,  would, 
perhaps,  cause  him  subsequently  to  fall  back  as  far  as  into  the 
arms  of  Russia. 


BOOK  XII 


I. 

While  these  negotiations  and  these  informations,  secret  but 
loyal,  were  preparing,  and  enlightening  abroad  the  European 
ground  on  which  the  republic  wished  to  estabhsh  itself,  without 
overturning  nationalities  ;  while  its  diplomacy  held  the  world 
in  suspense,  and  thus  gave  the  nation  time  to  organize  and  arm 
defensively;  Paris  continued  to  live  on  enthusiasm,  and  to 
breathe  the  ahnost  unanimous  hopes  of  its  revolution.  The 
republic  had  no  enemies,  —  scarcely  any  disbelievers  :  those 
who  had  trembled  in  the  first  moment  at  this  name  were 
astonisAed  by  its  magnanimity,  its  calm,  its  harmony.  The 
first  programmes  of  the  government,  the  voluntarj'-  respect  of 
Ae  people  for  authority  sprung  from  chance,  the  patience  of 
the  workmen,  the  charity  of  the  rich,  the  serenity  of  all,  shed 
a  light  without  shadow  over  the  early  weeks  of  the  republic. 
The  unfortunate  were  awaiting,  the  fortunate  enjoyed,  their 
security ;  opinions  the  most  opposite  became  reconciled  on  this 
wide  basis  of  liberty,  a  common  and  safe  asylum  open  to  all. 
The  parties  hurled  from  power,  and  still  surprised  at  their  fall, 
were  then  grateful  to  the  government  for  the  magnanimity  with 
which  it  interdicted  all  recriminations,  all  proscriptions,  and 
invited  them  to  the  free  and  complete  exercise  of  their  political 
rights. 

The  departments  organized  peacefully  in  patriotic  assemblies, 
in  order  to  seek,  in  good  faith  and  mutual  agreement,  not  par- 
tisans, but  the  best  citizens  in  all  the  professions,  fitted  to  unite 
and  consolidate  the  parties  of  the  republic  in  the  National 
Assembly.  If  ever  unbelievers  in  liberty  need  to  be  convinced 
of  the  omnipotence  of  a  generous  sentiment,  and  of  an  amnesty 
of  opinions  upon  a  people,  their  eyes  must  be  directed  to  the 
picture  of  these  two  months  of  concord,  and  of  continuous 
festivals  of  the  heart.  Excepting  a  few  incendiarj^  declama- 
tions attempted  here  and  there  in  certain  shameful  clubs,  and 

VOL.  11.  9* 


102  HISTORY    OF    THE 

which  the  government  left  to  evaporate  in  the  general  indiffer- 
ence, in  public  contempt,  there  was  neither  an  insult  from 
citizen  to  citizen,  nor  a  conflict  of  opinion,  nor  a  violent  repres- 
sion to  be  exercised,  throughout  the  whole  territory.  Thirty- 
six  millions  of  excitable  spirits  passed  with  order,  at  the  voice 
of  a  few  men,  from  one  form  of  government  to  another.  The 
scaffold  was  abolished,  the  prisons  opened  only  to  receive  male- 
factors ;  the  laws  were  obeyed,  even  in  respect  to  taxes,  by  a 
suffering  people.  The  spirit  of  conquest  was  repudiated  ;  war, 
that  natural  attraction  of  the  French  genius,  was  restrained  by 
the  single  hand  of  practical  philosophy.  There  was  seen,  there 
was  felt,  the  inspiration  of  God  in  a  people. 

11. 

This  state  of  things  would  have  continued  indefinitely,  if 
this  inspiration  of  reason,  of  truth,  and  of  practical  fraternity, 
had  not  been  opposed,  within  the  bosom  of  the  government 
itself,  by  other  less  fortunate  inspirations,  —  posthumous  inspi- 
rations of  a  time  which  had  and  ought  to  have  no  analogy 
with  the  present ;  it  was  a  deplorable  parody  of  the  first  repub- 
lic,—  the  language  of  denunciation,  of  exclusion,  of  rudeness, 
and  of  threats,  to  a  people  which  was  surprised  at  being  scolded 
and  threatened  at  the  moment  when  it  was  throwing  itself  vol- 
untarily, and  with  a  unanimous  current,  into  a  republic  of  con- 
cord and  good  will.  The  first  effect  of  this  error  of  a  part  of 
the  government  was  revealed  on  the  15th  of  March,  in  full 
serenity  of  events. 

The  ministry  of  the  interior  was  under  the  almost  absolute 
control  of  M.  Ledru  Rollin  ;  this  ministry  touched  upon  every- 
thing with  its  immense  jurisdiction.  It  had  acquired  still  more 
importance  from  the  power  of  the  name,  talent,  and  democratic 
popularity  of  the  man  on  whom  this  ministry  had  devolved. 
To  inspire  the  public  mind,  to  organize  the  elections,  was  one 
of  its  prerogatives.  It  is  not  known  by  what  hand  was  drafted 
the  first  circular  addressed  by  the  minister  of  the  interior  to 
the  authorities  of  the  republic  in  the  departments ;  what  was 
done  in  the  other  ministries  was  as  foreign  to  the  minister  of 
foreign  affairs  as  the  acts  of  his  own  ministry  were  to  his  col- 
leagues. United  in  the  grand  tendencies  of  order  and  of 
republicanism,  they  could  diverge  in  details  ;  each  one  followed 
his  own  mind,  and  answered  only  to  his  conscience  and  to  the 
safety  of  the  country. 


1! 


KEVOLtrxiON    OF    ie48. 


103 


The  republican  moderation  in  which  the  ministry  moved 
was  not  the  moderation  of  Lamartine,  nor  that  of  the  majority 
of  the  government.  They  often  conflicted,  but  without  sus- 
picion ;  the  frank  energy  of  difference  in  opinion  excluded  all 
idea  of  perfidy. 

This  opposition  between  the  two  kinds  of  republicanism 
which  encountered,  which  clashed,  and  which  oftener  modified 
and  became  reconciled,  in  the  council,  had  transpired  beyond 
the  deliberations  of  government.  The  greater  part  of  the  coun- 
try rallied  around  the  men  of  moderation  and  of  liberty.  The 
minority,  more  ardent  and  more  bitter,  rallied  around  the  min- 
ister of  the  interior  and  his  partisans.  Men  of  this  party,  it 
is  said,  besieged  him  with  republican  counsel  and  impatience. 
They  sought  to  draw  him  from  the  paths  of  concert  and  con- 
cord, when  he  wished,  like  all  his  colleagues,  to  confine  things 
and  minds.  These  extreme  counsellors  held  the  pen  in  his 
offices,  and  expressed  in  equivocal  and  ill-sounding  phrase  their 
OAvn  spirit,  instead  of  the  spirit  of  the  government.  There 
was  felt  the  counter-action  of  two  minds  opposed  to  power ; 
the  one  pacifying,  the  other  agitating,  the  passions. 


III. 

The  first  important  circular  of  the  minister  of  the  interior, 
relating  to  the  elections,  appeared  on  the  12th  of  March. 

This  circular  Avas  a  tocsin  of  alarm  for  the  countrj^,  suddenly 
roused  from  the  dream  of  concord  and  peace  which  the  gov- 
ernment desired  to  prolong.  The  piece,  at  the  end  of  many 
useful  counsels,  contained  violent  expressions,  destined  to  pro- 
voke equal  violence  in  return,  on  the  part  of  the  threatened 
opinions. 

"  Your  powers  are  unlimited,"  said  the  minister  to  his  agents. 
This  was  to  recall  the  dictatorial  mandates  of  the  commissa- 
ries of  the  Convention.  Every  reminiscence  of  this  nature  sent 
a  shudder  through  the  country.  "  We  wish  all  men  of  the 
eve,  and  none  of  the  next  day,  in  the  National  Assembly." 
This  was  to  proscribe  public  opinion  itself  from  its  own  sover- 
eignty. It  was  the  political  ostracism  of  almost  the  entire 
nation  ;  for  if  the  number  of  rational  republicans  was  immense, 
the  number  of  factious  republicans  was  very  small.  It  was,  in 
a  word,  an  18th  Fructidor  of  words  arainst  France.  The 
impression  was  murb  mm-p  sinister  than  the  design. 

This  circular,  an  important  act  of  government  to  promulgate 


104  HISTORY    OF    THE 

its  spirit  to  the  nation,  had  neither  been  submitted  to  the  gov 
emment  nor  deliberated  on  by  it.  It  was  the  work  and  abuse 
of  power  of  the  invaders  of  the  bureaux  of  the  ministry  of  the 
interior.  The  multiplicity  of  business,  and  the  whirl  of  events, 
which  did  not  leave  a  moment's  leisure,  night  or  day,  to  the 
members  of  the  government,  who  were  contirmally  engaged  at 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  in  the  public  square,  in  dialogue  with  the 
columns  of  the  people,  and  deputations  from  the  departments, 
or  foreign  nations,  had  prevented  the  knowledge  of  this  circular 
from  reaching  Lamartine.  He  only  learned  its  existence  by 
the  rumor  of  trouble  and  irritation  which  it  caused  in  Paris. 
He  felt,  at  once,  that  if  this  act  were  not  disavowed  by  the 
government,  the  republic  would  change  hands  in  changing 
doctrines ;  that  it  would  become  a  tyranny  of  the  minority, 
instead  of  being  the  conjmon  land  of  liberty  ;  and  to  sustain 
this  insolent  tyranny  of  a  minority,  there  was  only  terror  within, 
war  without,  trouble,  exactions,  decimations,  and  revolutionary 
ill  usage  everywhere.  He,  as  well  as  his  colleagues  of  the 
majority,  were  resolved  to  die  a  thousand  times,  rather  than 
to  associate  their  responsibility  before  God,  history,  and  them- 
selves, with  so  execrable  a  government. 

He  knew,  moreover,  as  a  politician,  that  such  a  government 
would  before  three  months  be  a  civil  war,  and  that  civil  war  was 
the  death  of  the  republic. 

He  consequently  demanded  a  secret  and  full  government 
council  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  for  the  next  day,  16th  of  March, 
at  noon,  resolved  to  submit  to  his  colleagues  the  question  of  the 
two  principles  of  government  which  seem  at  last  to  place 
themselves  in  opposition,  decided  sooner  to  dismember  the  gov- 
ernment itself,  if  necessary,  at  all  hazards,  than  to  deny  and 
denaturalize  himself  by  remaining  in  it. 

He  did  not  conceal  any  of  the  consequences  of  this  dismem- 
berment at  such  a  time.  He  knew  that  the  opinion  of  the 
healthy  portion  of  the  people,  of  the  National  Guard,  and  bour- 
geoisie of  Paris,  adhered  to  him  strongly,  from  instinct ;  that 
the  socialist,  moving,  active,  terrorist,  and  armed  ultra-revolu- 
tionary party  of  the  capital,  clung  madly  to  the  leaders  of  the 
opposite  party,  and  that  his  retirement  from  government  would 
be  the  signal  of  a  combat,  in  which  all  the  chances  would  be 
against  it;  for  if  he  had  public  opinion,  he  had  no  arms.  No 
matter ;  it  was  one  of  those  hours  in  which  the  politician  does 
not  reckon  his  safety,  but  his  honor. 

Interrogated  on  the  evening  before  the  17th,  at  the  Hotel  de 


KEVOLUTION    OF    1S4S.  105 

Ville,  by  a  deputation  of  a  club  of  the  National  Guard,  of 
which  M.  de  Lepine,  a  colonel  of  the  Banlieue,  and  an  influ- 
ential citizen,  was  the  organ,  Lamartine  boldly  profited  by  this 
occasion  to  explain  to  Paris  the  revolt  of  his  heart  against  the 
circulars,  and  the  struggle  he  projected  for  the  next  day. 

"  Citizens,"  replied  he  to  the  deputation  which  had  interro- 
gated him  on  the  intentions  of  the  government,  "  it  does  not 
belong  to  me,  in  a  question  so  general  and  grave,  to  take  the 
initiative  on  the  opinions  of  all  my  colleagues  in  a  body. 
Still,  I  may  say  to  you,  that  they  will  be  deeply  touched  with, 
and  deeply  grateful  for,  the  step  you  have  just  taken,  and  the 
words  you  have  just  pronounced. 

"  The  government  has  authorized  no  person  to  speak  in  its 
name  to  the  nation,  and  especially,  to  speak  a  language  supe- 
rior to  the  laws."  {Bravo  !  bravo  .')  "  It  has  given  no  one  this 
right.  For  at  the  moment  of  issuing  like  an  acclamation  from 
the  people,  to  fill  for  a  moment  the  painful  place  it  occupies,  it 
had  no  wish  to  take  this  right  upon  itself. 

"  It  did  not  wish  this,  it  has  not  done  it,  it  will  never  do  it. 
Trust  in  the  names  of  the  men  who  compose  it."     {Bravo  I) 

"  Be  certain  that,  before  many  days,  the  provisional  govern 
ment  itself  will  take  up  the  word,  and  that  whatever  there  is 
in  the  terms,  and  certainly  not  in  the  designs  of  this  document, 
capable  of  wounding  and  disturbing  the  liberty  and  conscience 
of  the  country,  will  be  explained,  commented  on,  and  settled  by 
the  voice  of  the  entire  government."  {Acclamatiojis.  Cries  of 
Vive  Lamartine  !  Vive  Lamartine .') 

"  Say,  long  live  the  entire  government  I  "  replied  Lamartme. 
"  For  this  idea  is  not  mine  alone,  it  is  that  of  the  entire  gov- 
ernment, and  the  ministry  itself." 

A  member  of  the  deputation  cried :  "  We  accept  it  as 
such !  " 

M.  Lamartine  resumed  :  "  Citizens,  of  all  the  dogmas  which 
have  survived  the  great  falls  of  thrones  and  empires  which  we 
have  witnessed  during  half  a  century,  there  is  but  one  dogma 
imperishable  in  our  e3'es,  that  of  national  sovereignty."  {Bravo .' 
bravo .')  "  It  is  that  of  the  national  sovereignty  which  we  will 
never  suffer  ourselves  to  assail,  and  never  permit  any  to  tamper 
with,  either  in  our  name  or  yours. 

"  The  provisional  government  will  rejoice,  do  not  doubt  it, 
that  you  have  come  like  a  presentiment  of  truly  republican 
principle,  that  is  to  say,  freely,  to  elicit  an  explanation  from  it 
as  to  the  conduct  it  will  hold  in  the  elections  from  which  the 


106  HISTORY    OF    THE 

republican  government  of  France  must  issua.  The  government 
will  not  and  ought  not  to  influence  the  elections,  either  directly 
or  indirectly.  Yes,  as  a  government  armed  with  a  certain 
portion  of  public  power,  we  should  blush  at  the  reproaches 
which  have  been  addressed  to  preceding  governments,  if,  in- 
stead of  the  corruption  which,  by  its  scandal,  caused  the  very 
revolution  from  which  the  republic  issued,  we  should  now 
employ  another  corruption,  the  worst  of  all  corruptions,  the 
corruption  of  fear,  and  the  moral  oppression  of  consciences." 
{Bravo !  bravo !) 

"  No,  it  is  from  a  free  and  pure  source  that  the  republic  must 
and  will  issue.  Calm  yourselves,  citizens,  and  repeat  these 
words  to  your  fellow-citizens  without."  [Many  voices :  Yes  ! 
yes  I  we  will  rejjeat  them  with  pleasure.) 

Lamartine  went  on  :  "I  desire,  we  all  desire,  that  they  may 
ring  through  the  public  sentiment  of  Paris.  We  desire  that 
they  may  satisfy  it  as  to  the  ill-defined  meaning  given  to  a  few 
words  that  had  neither  significance  nor  bearing,  by  alarm  at 
expressions  which  often  falsify  words.  Understand  it  well,  and 
explain  it  clearly  to  those  who  are  waiting  for  you.  The  entire 
government  of  the  republic  feels  the  necessity  of  twice  satisfy- 
ing the  public  conscience,  once  by  this  interview  we  hold  with 
each  other,  and  again  by  a  proclamation  presently  issued  to  all 
France."     [Prolonged  acclamations.) 

"  You  wish,  like  ourselves,  that  the  republic  and  liberty  should 
be  one  word."  ( Yes  !  yes .')  "  Otherwise  the  republic  would  be  a 
falsehood;  and  we  would  have  it  a  truth."  [Bravo!)  "We  would 
have  a  republic  which  shall  make  itself  loved  and  respected  by 
all,  which  should  be  terrible  to  none  but  the  enemies  of  the 
country  and  its  institutions."  [Bravo!  bravo!)  "  We  would  found 
a  republic  to  be  the  model  of  moderate  governments,  and  not  a 
copy  of  the  faults  and  misfortunes  of  another  period.  We  adopt 
its  glory,  we  repudiate  its  anarchy  and  wrong.  Aid  us  to  estab- 
lish and  defend  it.  Vote  according  to  your  consciences,  and  if, 
as  I  doubt  not,  they  are  the  consciences  of  good  citizens,  the 
republic  will  be  established  by  your  votes,  as  it  is  now  estab- 
lished by  the  arms  of  the  people  of  Paris."  [Unayiimous  bravos.) 

The  deputation  retired  with  reiterated  cries  of  ^^Vive  Lamar- 
tine !  Vive  le  gouvernment  provisoire !  Vive  la  Republique  !  " 


REVOLUTION   OF    1943.  10" 


IV. 


These  wordsi,  received  with  frenzied  joy  by  the  deputation 
and  the  immense  auditory  of  other  deputations  that  Lamartine 
addressed  until  night  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 
spread  like  the  news  of  a  satisfactory  coup  d'ttat,  with  the  rapid- 
ity of  thought  itself,  from  quarter  to  quarter.  They  gave  cour- 
age to  the  alarmed  citizens.  They  informed  the  violent  party 
that  the  government  would  not  be  its  accomplice,  and  that  the 
next  morning  they  would  have  to  defend  or  deny  themselves. 

Lamartine  employed  a  part  of  the  night  in  preparing  with 
his  own  hand  a  government  proclamation,  which  contained  the 
true  principles  of  the  free,  representative,  moderate  and  national 
republic,  a  proclamation  which,  in  words  and  terms,  was  the 
most  literal  disavowal  and  denial  of  the  circular  of  the  minister 
of  the  interior.  Ready  for  anything,  even  for  the  last  extremity, 
carrying  arms  to  defend  himself  against  insurrection,  he  repaired 
alone  and  on  foot,  at  the  hour  indicated,  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

All  the  members  of  the  government  had  already  met  there. 
He  was  astonished,  on  reaching  the  place  de  Greve,  to  find  it 
occupied  by  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  men,  the  picked  com- 
panies of  the  National  Guard.  He  was  recognized,  and  saluted 
by  energetic  acclamations.  These  cries  of  "F^^*e  Lamartine .'" 
accompanied  him  even  into  the  halls,  and  were  renewed  with 
increased  frenzy  when  he  was  seen,  or  thought  to  be  seen,  at  the 
windows  of  the  reception-room. 

He  asked  the  motive  of  this  spontaneous  muster  of  so  great 
a  mass  of  the  National  Guard.  He  learned  that  they  were 
companies  of  grenadiers,  wearing  their  fur  caps,  who  came  to 
protest  against  a  decree  of  the  government  by  which  this  privi- 
lege of  uniform  was  taken  from  them ;  a  decree  which  broke 
their  too  exclusive  squares  to  allow  the  enrolment  of  all  citizens, 
without  privileges  or  distinction  of  head-gear.  He  was  afflicted 
by  this  puerility  at  so  serious  a  time.  He  addressed  them,  and 
made  them  consent  to  the  abolition  of  a  sign  which  was  only  a 
military  vanity,  when  the  question  was  of  confounding  all  van- 
ities in  patriotism. 

During  the  addresses  to  the  grenadiers,  General  Courtais, 
their  commandant,  hastened  on  horseback,  with  his  staflT,  to  the 
square,  dashed  into  the  midst  of  the  tumultuous  ranks,  received 
insults,  braved  threats,  and  incurred  danger.  The  people,  ex- 
cited by  this  assemblage,  crowded  to  the  openings  of  the  quay 
and  the  streets,  shouting,  "  Aristocracy ! "  "  Privilege ! "     The 


108  HISTORY    OF    THE 

motionless  and  compact  square  still  remained  covered  with  un- 
armed legions,  that  seemed  to  be  expecting  an  event. 

V. 

The  secret  session  of  the  government  was  opened  under  these 
auspices.  The  two  camps  were  present  within  and  without : 
Avithout,  accidentally;  within,  by  the  will  of  Lamartine.  The 
faces  of  those  present  were  dark,  contracted,  and  resolved,  as 
on  the  eve  of  a  battle. 

Lamartine  laid  upon  the  table  the  proclamation  he  had  writ- 
ten in  the  night,  and  which  he  had  communicated  to  no  one. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  up  to  this  time  we  have  been  united 
in  one  sheaf  of  opinions  and  feelings,  by  the  very  fire  of  the 
great  revolutionary  movements  into  which  we  have  thrown 
ourselves,  to  extinguish  and  change  it  into  a  strong,  regular, 
and  unanimous  republican  government.  Now  we  can  no  longer 
deceive  ourselves ;  the  acts  and  "words  of  the  minister  of  the 
interior,  in  contradiction  to  the  unanimous  sense  we  wished  to 
impress  on  our  dictatorship,  seem  to  indicate  clearly  two  things ; 
the  first,  that  this  minister  assumes,  by  individual  acts,  to 
involve  the  entire  government,  who  ought  to  consider  in  com- 
mon what  he  says  and  what  he  has  done  on  so  important  a 
subject;  the  second,  that  this  minister  intends  to  rule  in  a  spirit 
which  I  do  not  believe  to  be  the  spirit  of  the  republic,  the  sense 
of  the  majority  of  the  government,  and  which,  at  any  rate,  does 
not  accord  with  my  own  views.  We  must,  therefore,  within 
this  very  hour,  here,  in  the  present  session,  know  whether  there 
are  in  fact  two  minds  in  this  government.  And  if  there  are 
two  in  fact,  one  or  the  other  must  carry  the  day,  so  that  that 
which  shall  be  vanquished  may  retire,  and  yield  the  govern- 
ment to  that  which  is  victorious.  For  one  cannot  accept,  in 
his  conscience,  the  responsibility  of  the  other ;  and  the  republic, 
in  its  problematical,  its  most  dangerous  and  agitated  period,  can- 
not be  governed  by  two  contradictory  policies.  Let  us  know, 
once  for  all,  if  there  are  two  irreconcilable  policies  among  us, 
and  to  which  of  the  two  you  will  yield  your  adhesion.  Let  us 
knowf  it,  and  make  it  known  to  the  country,  for  the  policy  which 
has  been  impudently  displayed  in  the  circular  of  the  minister 
of  the  interior  rouses  up  the  public  feeling.  It  must  be  either 
rectified  or  commented  on  by  common  concert,  or  we  must 
separate  without  the  possibility  of  reconciliation.  Here  is  the 
proclamation  which  I  propose  to  the  government  as  a  text  for 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  109 

opinions  which  I  believe  to  be  those  of  the  country,  and  those 
of  the  government,  as  they  are  my  own.  I  am  going  to  read 
it  to  the  council,  and  the  deliberation  which  will  ensue  on  this 
text  w'ill  cut  short  the  question  of  the  two  policies  which  must 
govern  our  agents,  and  satisfy  or  dismember  the  nation."  He 
then  read  the  following  proclamation  :  — 

"  Citizens  : 

"  In  all  the  great  acts  of  the  life  of  a  people,  it  is  the  duty 
of  government  to  make  its  opinion  manifest  to  the  nation. 

"  You  are  about  to  accomplish  the  greatest  act  in  the  life  of 
a  people  :  to  elect  representatives  of  the  country ;  to  produce, 
from  your  consciences  and  your  suffrages,  not  only  a  govern- 
ment, but  a  social  power,  a  complete  constitution.  You  are 
about  to  organize  the  republic  ! 

"  We  have  only  proclaimed  it.  Raised  by  acclamation  to 
power,  during  the  popular  interregnum,  we  wished  and  wish 
no  other  dictatorship  but  that  of  absolute  necessity.  If  we  had 
refused  the  post  of  peril,  we  should  have  been  cowards ;  if  we 
remain  there  an  hour  longer  than  necessity  compels  us,  we 
shall  be  usurpers. 

"  You  alone  are  strong. 

"  We  are  reckoning  the  days.  We  are  in  haste  to  restore 
the  republic  to  the  nation. 

"  The  provisional  electoral  law  we  have  passed  is  the  broad- 
est under  which  any  nation  of  the  earth  has  ever  convoked 
the  people  to  the  exercise  of  the  highest  right  of  man,  his  own 
sovereignty. 

"  Election  belongs  to  all,  without  exception. 

"  From  the  date  of  this  law  there  are  no  more  proletaries  in 
France. 

"  Every  Frenchman,  of  the  age  of  manhood,  is  a  political 
citizen ;  every  citizen  is  an  elector ;  every  elector  is  a  sove- 
reign. Tht;  right  is  equal  and  absolute  for  all.  There  is  no 
one  citizen  wno  can  say  to  another,  '  You  are  more  of  a  sove- 
reign than  I.'  Contt... plate  your  power,  prepare  to  execute  it, 
and  be  worthy  of  entering  on  the  possession  of  your  kingdom. 

"  The  reign  of  the  people  is  called  the  republic. 

"  If  you  ask  what  republic  we  mean  by  these  words,  and 
what  principles,  what  virtue,  we  wish  in  the  republicans  you 
are  going  to  elect,  we  reply:  'Look  at  the  people  of  Paris 
and  France,  since  the  proclamation  of  the  republic  ! ' 

"  The  people  have  fought  with  heroism. 

VOL.  II.  10 


no 


HISTORY   OF   THE 


"  The  people  have  triumphed  with  humanity. 

"  The  people  have  repressed  anarchy  from  the  first  hour. 

"  The  people  have  themselves  broken  the  arms  of  their  just 
anger,  directly  after  the  conflict.  They  have  burned  the  scaf- 
fold. They  have  proclaimed  the  abolition  of  the  death  penalty 
upon  their  enemies. 

"  They  have  respected  individual  liberty,  by  not  proscribing 
any  one  ;  they  have  respected  conscience  in  matters  of  reli- 
gion, which  they  would  have  free,  but  without  inequality  or 
privilege. 

"  They  have  respected  property.  They  have  carried  probity 
to  the  extent  of  that  sublime  disinterestedness  which  touches 
even  history. 

"  They  have  made  their  choice  of  rulers  among  the  most 
honest  and  firm  men  who  have  come  under  their  cognizance. 
They  have  not  uttered  one  cry  of  hatred  or  envy  against 
property,  nor  one  cry  of  vengeance  against  persons.  In  a  word 
the  name  of  the  people  became  the  name  of  courage,  clemenc} 
and  virtue. 

"  We  have  but  one  instruction  to  give  you  :  take  your  inspi- 
ration from  the  people ;  imitate  them,  think,  feel,  vote  and  act 
like  them  ! 

"  The  provisional  government  itself  will  not  imitate  the 
governments  who  usurped  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  cor- 
rupted the  electors,  and  purchased  the  conscience  of  the  people 
at  the  cost  of  morality. 

"For  what  purpose  is  it  to  supersede  these  governments,  if 
we  imitate  them  ?  Why  have  we  created  and  worshipped  the 
republic,  if  we  are  to  enter  on  the  first  day  into  the  paths  of 
abolished  royalty  ?  The  government  considers  it  its  duty  to 
shed  upon  the  electoral  operations  that  light  which  illumines 
the  consciences  of  men  without  oppressing  them.  It  confines 
itself  to  neutralizing  the  hostile  influence  of  the  old  adminis- 
tration, which  perverted  and  changed  the  elections. 

"  The  provisional  government  would  have  the  public  con- 
science rule.  It  does  not  trouble  itself  with  old  parties.  Old 
parties  have  grown  a  century  old  in  three  days.  The  republic 
will  convert  them,  if  they  are  true  and  just  to  them.  Neces- 
sity is  a  great  master.  The  republic,  mark  it  well,  has  the 
happiness  to  be  a  government  of  necessity.  We  possess 
reflection.  You  cannot  go  back  to  the  impossibilities  of  roy- 
alty. You  would  not  descend  to  unknown  anarchy.  You 
will  be  republican  from  reason.     Only  give  safety,  liberty  and 


KEVOLUTION    OF    1843.  Ill 

respect,  to  all  men.  Insure  to  others  the  independence  of 
suffrage  you  desire  for  yourselves.  Do  not  regard  what  name 
those  you  believe  your  enemies  inscribe  on  their  bulletin,  but 
be  sure,  beforehand,  that  they  write  the  only  name  which  can 
save  them,  that  is  to  say,  that  of  a  capable  and  honest  repub- 
lican. 

"  Safety,  liberty,  and  respect  to  the  consciences  of  all  citi- 
zen-electors,—  this  is  themeaningof  a  republican  government; 
this  is  its  duty,  and  this  is  yours.  There  is  the  safety  of  the 
people  !  Confide  in  the  good  sense  of  the  country ;  it  will 
have  confidence  in  you.  Give  it  liberty,  and  it  will  repay  you 
by  the  republic. 

"  Citizens,  at  this  moment  France,  in  the  midst  of  some 
financial  difficulties  bequeathed  by  royalty,  but  under  providen- 
tial auspices,  is  attempting  the  greatest  work  of  modern  times, 
the  foundation  of  a  completely  popular  government,  the  organ- 
ization of  democracy,  the  republic  of  all  rights,  of  all  interests, 
of  all  intelligence,  and  all  the  virtues  ! 

"  The  circumstances  are  propitious.  Peace  is  possible. 
The  new  idea  may  take  its  place  in  Europe,  without  any  other 
disturbance  than  that  of  the  prejudices  entertained  against  it. 
There  is  no  anger  in  the  heart  of  a  people.  If  fugitive  roy- 
alty has  not  taken  with  it  all  the  enemies  of  the  republic,  it 
has  left  them  powerless ;  and  though  they  may  be  invested 
with  all  the  rights  which  the  republic  guarantees  to  minorities, 
yet  their  interest  and  their  prudence  assure  us  that  they  will  not 
voluntarily  trouble  the  peaceful  establishment  of  a  popular 
constitution. 

"  In  three  days  this  work,  which  was  thought  to  be  post- 
poned to  the  distance  of  time,  has  been  accomplished,  without 
the  shedding  of  a  single  drop  of  blood  in  France,  without 
any  other  cry  but  that  of  admiration  ringing  through  our  de- 
partments and  on  our  frontiers.  Let  us  not  lose  this  single 
opportunity  of  our  history.  Let  us  not  relinquish  the  great 
strength  of  the  new  idea,  the  security  with  which  it  inspires 
our  citizens,  the  astonishment  with  which  it  fills  the  world. 

"  Yet  a  few  days  of  magnanimity,  devotion,  and  patience, 
and  the  National  Assembly  will  receive  the  new-born  republic 
from  our  hands.  From  that  day  all  will  be  safe.  When  the 
nation,  by  the  hands  of  its  representatives,  shall  have  seized 
on  the  republic,  the  republic  will  be  strong  and  great  as  the 
nation,  sacred  as  the  idea  of  the  people,  imperishable  as  the 
country  ! " 


112  HISTORY   OF   THE 


VI. 


The  discussion  on  the  two  principles  which  ought  to  direct 
the  movement  of  the  government  opened  frankly,  energetically, 
"and  boldly.  The  addresses  reached  the  depths  of  thought, the 
replies  the  bottom  of  hearts.  Reasons  and  passions  were 
mingled  in  the  words  of  the  orators  of  opposite  parties.  The 
great  majority,  Marrast,  Marie,  Lamartine,  Garnier  Pages, 
Arago,  Cremieux,  and  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  expended  their  souls 
in  the  deliberation.  The  minority  rectified  rather  than  sus- 
tained the  terms  of  the  circulars.  Advices  assimilated,  senti- 
ments were  interwoven,  and  the  necessity  of  a  disavowal  pre- 
vailed by  an  overwhelming  vote.  The  liberal  and  magnanimous 
interpretation  given  to  the  spirit  of  the  government  by  the 
project  of  proclamation  was  admitted  by  all.  Lamartine 
modified  some  words  of  his  paper,  in  obedience  to  the  sugges- 
tions of  Louis  Blanc.  The  minority  itself  signed  the  pro- 
gramme of  the  majority.  It  was  sent  to  the  national  printing- 
house,  posted  up  in  Paris,  and  France  was  flooded  with  it.  It 
satisfied  men's  minds ;  but  still  it  seemed  what  it  was,  the 
ill-effaced  index  of  an  internal  struggle  in  the  very  conscience 
of  the  government. 

During  the  two  hours  consumed  by  this  interior  scene  at  the 
council-table,  the  clamors  of  the  National  Guard,  who  covered 
the  square,  ascended  to  the  windows,  and  seemed  to  impart 
strength  to  the  mind  of  the  majority.  This  pressure  was 
barely  apparent.  Lamartine  and  his  friends  deplored  this  un- 
timely and  accidental  manifestation.  It  might  give  room  for 
contrary  manifestations,  and  thus  excite  classes  against  classes, 
the  people  against  the  people.  Already,  in  fact,  the  rumor  of 
this  more  puerile  than  aristocratic  meeting  had  spread  through 
the  faubourgs.  Classes  of  working-men  hastened  up,  invaded 
the  ranks  of  the  unarmed  National  Guards,  reproached  them 
with  their  ridiculous  jealousy  on  the  privilege  of  uniform,  and 
followed  them  with  hisses  and  insults,  as  their  several  detach-' 
ments  left  the  square. 

Lamartine  and  Cremieux,  who  had  gone  out  together  from 
a  masked  door,  in  the  rear  of  the  Hotel,  were  recognized  upon 
the  quay,  and  surrounded  and  followed  by  a  column  of  people, 
who  accompanied  them  as  far  as  the  Louvre,  with  enthusiasm 
and  acclamations.  They  were  compelled  to  take  refuge  in  a 
house,  whose  door  they  closed,  to  avoid  an  involuntary  triumph 
which  would  have  alarmed  Paris. 


REVOLUTION   OF    1843.  113 


vn. 


The  next  morning  joy  seized  on  all  hearts  at  reading  the 
proclamation  to  the  French  people,  which  so  energetically 
established  the  true  and  liberal  sense  of  the  republic.  This 
victory  of  the  moderate  party  seemed  to  be  the  victory  of  all 
good  citizens.  The  more  unquiet  departments  received  it 
with  yet  more  applause.  They  trembled  at  seeing  proconsuls, 
armed  with  unlimited  power,  revive,  in  peaceful  France,  the 
arbitrary  and  irritated  proconsulates  of  the  Convention. 

But  the  Conventional  and  violent  party,  which  began  to  agi- 
tate and  combine  in  certain  clubs,  felt  itself  vanquished,  and 
thought  itself  powerful  enough  to  regain  the  victory  by  the  aid 
of  subterfuge. 

They  pretended  to  think,  and  perhaps  thought,  that  the  en- 
tirely accidental  manifestation  of  the  National  Guards,  during 
the  deliberation  of  the  preceding  evening,  had  been  contrived 
by  Lamartine  and  his  friends,  to  intimidate  the  minority  of 
government.  Perhaps  the  minority  itself  believed  this.  How- 
ever it  might  be,  a  dull  rumor  spread  artificially  through  Paris. 
The  people  were  induced  to  imagine  that  the  National  Guard 
had  surrounded  and  threatened  the  government,  and  that  they 
meditated  a  cov^p  d'etat  of  the  aristocratic  bourgeoisie  against 
its  most  popular  members.  Numerous  agents,  from  the  prefec- 
ture of  police  and  the  armed  men  encamped  in  its  courts,  were 
employed  to  spread  this  panic  among  the  people.  To  the  work- 
ing-men and  clubs  a  general  rendezvous  was  assigned  at  th-=^ 
Champs  Elysees,  to  muster  before  their  pretended  enemies,  and 
to  defile  in  innumerable  force  before  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and 
there  take  an  oath  to  defend  the  goverament. 

Caussidiere,  with  good  intentions  at  bottom,  seemed  himself 
to  be  one  of  the  principal  promoters  of  this  prodigious  gathering 
of  the  people,  among  whom  he  also  established  a  discipline  and 
order  which  at  once  struck  the  capital  with  terror  and  astonish- 
ment. The  people  were  really  attracted  en  viasse  by  a  good 
motive, —  that  of  displaying  attachment  and  lending  strength  to 
the  government.  There  was  not  a  germ  of  sedition  in  the 
greatest  pacific  sedition  that  a  capital  ever  witnessed.  At  the 
utmost  the  leaders  only  attempted  secretly,  by  cries  of  pref- 
erence, to  indemnify  the  minority  of  the  government  for  the 
triumph  of  Lamartine, 

VOL.  u.  10* 


114  HISTOKY    OF   THE 


VIII. 

But  while  the  people  thus  came  down  in  mass,  from  their 
faubourgs  and  workshops,  to  a  demonstration  they  believed 
loyal  and  civic,  a  few  men,  partisan  leaders,  movers  of  clubs, 
instruments  of  fanaticism  and  agents  of  sedition,  meditated 
using  this  army  of  the  people,  recruited  by  an  honest  sentiment, 
to  make  it,  at  their  will,  the  instrument  of  perverse  or  ambitious 
designs.  Happily  these  men  were  in  a  minority  of  the  clubs 
even,  but  they  made  up  for  their  small  number  by  their  despe- 
rate audacity. 

The  bureaus  of  the  clubs,  informed  of  the  meeting  which  was 
to  take  place  the  next  day,  had  agreed  to  place  themselves  at 
the  head  of  the  columns,  under  pretence  of  speaking  in  the  name 
of  the  people  themselves.  Some  of  these  club  leaders,  discon- 
tented with  their  isolation  and  impotence,  had  plotted  with 
their  principal  confidants  to  do  violence  to  the  government,  to 
winnow  it  of  some  members,  and  principally  Lamartine ;  to 
come  in  themselves,  or  put  in  some  of  their  friends,  in  the  place 
of  the  removed  members,  and  thus  to  bend  its  spirit  to  the  views 
of  their  factions  or  the  interest  of  their  ambitions.  Enterpris- 
ing and  imperious  men,  armed,  if  not  with  concealed  weapons, 
at  least  by  the  number  and  chances  of  an  assemblage  they  man- 
aged, might,  in  the  name  of  the  crowd  which  surrounded  them, 
summon  the  government  to  obey  them  and  retire.  In  case  of 
resistance,  they  could  seize  upon  the  government  in  the  tumult. 

There  were  such  men,  and  everything  indicated  that  they 
had  this  plan  in  their  minds.  Other  leaders  of  important  clubs, 
more  particularly  attached  to  the  minister  of  the  interior,  to 
Louis  Blanc,  and  even  well  disposed  to  Lamartine,  —  such  as 
Barbes,  Sobrier,  Suau,  and  others,  —  in  fine,  exclusively  devoted 
to  the  interests  of  their  party  and  the  predominance  of  their 
ideas,  such  as  Cabet  and  Raspail,  surrounded  these  men  of 
faction,  watched  them,  and  ruled  them  by  their  superiority  of 
credit,  and  numbers,  and  might  neutralize  extreme  designs. 
Blanqui  and  his  friends,  Lacambre  and  Flotte,  ought  to  march 
there  in  the  front  ranks.  It  was  a  review  of  the  people,  of  ideas, 
chimeras,  good,  evil,  misery,  patriotism,  virtues,  vices  and  fac- 
tions. 

IX. 

The  majority  of  the  government,  informed  in  the  mormng 
of  the  immense  assemblage  which  was  forming  in  the  Champs 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848. 


115 


Elysees,  and  which  came  down  in  perpetual  currents  from  all 
the  laboring  quarters  of  the  capital  and  precincts,  did  not  dis- 
guise any  of  the  danger  to  which  such  a  mass  of  men,  excited 
and  floating  under  an  unknown  spirit,  might  subject  the  revo- 
lution and  itself.  The  minister  of  war,  M.  Arago,  had  no 
armed  force  to  oppose  to  this  deluge  of  people.  The  National 
Guard,  rendered  unpopular  by  its  demand  of  the  morning,  would 
only  have  provoked  anger.  It  was  necessary  to  trust  to  the 
chances  of  the  day,  and  only  to  found  a  support  against  the 
possible  error  of  the  people  in  the  inspirations  of  the  people 
themselves. 

All  the  members  of  the  government  devoted  to  this  end  their 
personal  influence  and  that  of  their  friends.  Marie  could  act 
powerfully  on  the  national  workshops.  Lamartine  sent  more 
than  a  thousand  voluntary  and  well-disposed  agents  among  the 
groups  of  people,  to  breathe  peace,  and  oppose  evil  suggestions. 
Louis  Blanc  ought  to  have  acted  in  a  similar  way  upon  the 
delegates  of  the  workmen  of  the  Luxembourg.  He  fostered 
errors,  but  never  seditions. 

At  noon  the  members  of  the  government  were  at  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  with  the  exception  of  the  minister  of  the  interior  and 
the  minister  of  war,  who  came  in  company  a  few  minutes  later. 
A  dull  rumor  rose  from  the  quays  and  streets.  The  population 
of  Paris  had  poured  out  entire  into  the  Champs  Elysees,  to 
arrange  or  to  form  a  procession  of  popular  manifestation.  The 
rest  of  the  city  was  empty,  as  if  to  make  room  for  the  people. 
The  uneasy  or  terrified  citizens  were  on  their  doorsteps,  at  the 
windows,  or  on  the  roofs,  awaiting  what  would  happen. 

The  respiration  of  the  city  seemed  to  be  stopped.  Every 
minute  the  members  of  the  government  went  upon  the  balconies 
of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  to  see  whether  they  could  discern  the 
head  of  the  column  ;  at  length  it  appeared.  It  consisted  of  five 
or  six  hundred  picked  men  of  all  the  clubs  of  Paris,  marching 
in  silence  and  order  behind  their  orators  and  tribunes.  These 
men  were  ranged  in  files,  thirty  or  forty  abreast.  They  ad- 
vanced with  the  slow  pace  of  a  religious  procession ;  some 
joined  band  in  hand,  others  linked  together  by  long  red  or  tri- 
colored  ribbons,  which  swept  like  a  vast  girdle  round  each 
principal  group.  Before  each  club  floated  a  flag.  Two  or  three 
men  and  a  woman  were  crowned  with  red  caps,  the  symbols  of 
our  Saturnalia  of  Terror.  This  hideous  sign  seemed  to  excite 
indignation  and  disgust  in  the  crowd.  The  workmen  hissed  it 
or  juUed  it  from  the   brows  of  the  insane  beings  who  had 


116  HISTORY    OF    THE 

hoisted  it.  The  working  people  themselves  seemed  to  feel 
that  the  republic  of  1848  was  a  more  serious  and  humane  act, 
dishonored  by  this  reminiscence  of  1793, 

Behind  this  procession  of  clubs  marched  in  order,  by  tens,  in 
the  same  dense  and  compact  column  of  people,  workmen  of  all 
trades,  decently  dressed,  grave,  modest,  inoffensive,  silent, 
rigidly  refraining  from  all  shouts,  gestures,  and  even  expressions 
of  countenance,  of  a  nature  to  threaten  or  disturb  other  citizens  ; 
like  men  who  wished  to  perform  a  calm  and  holy  act  of  patri- 
otism, and  who  watch  over  each  other,  to  gratify  the  eyes  of 
their  country. 

This  column,  or  rather  this  army,  inundated  the  entire  square 
of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  extended  from  the  place  de  Greve  as 
far  as  the  extremity  of  the  Champs  Elysees.  It  was  estimated 
at  a  hundred  or  a  hundred  and  forty  thousand  men.  When  the 
square  overflowed,  the  reflux  of  this  crowd  halted  on  the  quays 
to  wait  for  the  filing.  The  chiefs  of  the  clubs  and  their  prin- 
cipal satellites  ranged  themselves  before  the  gateway  of  the 
Hotel  de  Ville.  The  government  had  ordered  Colonel  Key  to 
close  it,  and  defend  it  with  two  or  three  thousand  of  the  volun- 
teers of  February;  a  brave,  but  confused,  ragged  and  undisci- 
plined body;  a  depository  of  sedition,  which  could  not  fail  to 
return  to  the  element  of  sedition  at  the  first  contact.  But  this 
very  conformity  with  the  turbulent  and  revolutionary  elements 
from  which  the  troop  issued,  gave  it,  in  less  grave  disturbances, 
the  audacity  and  authority  necessary  to  resist  the  seditions. 

About  an  hour  rolled  on  in  this  way.  The  government, 
encircled  and  motionless,  seemed  to  expect  some  action  from 
the  people  ;  the  people  seeming,  on  their  side,  to  await  the 
issue  of  the  deliberations  of  their  government.  As  if  to  pass 
away  the  hour,  the  motionless  crowd,  with  their  eyes  turned 
to  the  windows  of  the  Hotel,  sang  from  time  to  time  La  Mar- 
seillaise and  the  air  of  the  Girondists.  Multiplied  cries  of  "  Long 
live  the  provisional  government !  Long  live  Louis  Blanc  !  Long 
live  Ledru  Rollin  ! "  mingled  with  rarer  shouts  of  "  Long  live 
Lamartine  ! "  seemed  to  indicate  clearly  that  one  of  the  objects 
of  the  meeting,  at  least  in  the  plans  of  the  leaders,  was  to  pro- 
test indirectly  against  the  proclamations  to  the  people,  which 
they  attributed  solely  to  Lamartine,  and  to  avenge  the  minority 
of  the  government  for  what  they  conceived  a  humiliation  to  it, 
and  to  show  the  majority,  and  particularly  Lamartine,  that  the 
voice  of  the  people  was  not  so  much  for  him  as  for  those  who 
were  imagined  to  be  his  enemies. 


REVOLUTION    OF    IS  18.  117 

At  last  tlie  crowd,  weary  of  waiting  for  a  conclusion  they 
were  ignorant  of,  seemed  by  their  impatience  to  authorize  the 
deputies  of  the  clubs  to  penetrate  into  the  Hotel  de  Ville  in  their 
name,  to  convey  to  the  government  an  expression  of  their  ad- 
hesion and  the  homage  of  their  strength.  Cabet  alone  entered 
on  an  order  of  Lamartine.  He  conferred  with  him  on  the  great 
staircase.  After  an  assurance  given  by  Cabet  of  the  inoffen- 
sive intentions  of  the  clubs,  the  government  ordered  Colonel 
Rey  to  let  the  delegates  alone  enter,  and  to  shut  the  gates  again. 
The  people  respected  this  order.  A  hundred  leaders  of  clubs 
and  pretended  delegates  from  the  people,  who  were  in  reality 
only  most  rabid  club-members,  entered  the  interior  of  the  palace. 
The  government  removed  to  the  largest  halls  to  receive  them. 

The  president  of  the  provisional  government,  Dupont  de 
I'Eure,  eighty-three  years  of  age,  bowed  down  by  lassitude,  but 
intrepid  in  heart  and  serene  in  countenance,  was  seated,  with 
his  back  resting  against  the  wainscot  of  the  great  hall.  Arago, 
Albert,  Louis  Blanc,  and  Ledru  Rollin,  stood  on  his  right ; 
Lamartine,  Marrast,  Cremieux,  Pagnerre,  Garnier  Pages,  stood 
at  his  left;  all  equally  resolved  to  maintain  the  dignity,  moral 
independence,  and  integrity  of  the  government,  or  to  die. 

The  clubs  appeared  in  the  persons  of  their  principal  leaders : 
the  greater  part  were  unkno\\Ti  to  the  members  of  government ; 
some  had  already  been  received  individually  at  the  head  of  their 
clubs  by  Lamartine.  The  most  notable  who  walked  at  their 
head  were  Blanqui,  Lacambre,  and  De  Flotte  of  the  navy, 
satellites  of  Blanqui;  Barbus,  Sobrier,  Cabet,  Raspail,  Lucien, 
]\Iichelot,  Longepied,  Lebreton,  Saugier,  Danse,  and  fifty  others, 
orators  or  chiefs  of  popular  meetings,  whose  names  and  faces 
were  new  to  the  government.  Some  groups  of  delegates  of  the 
people,  minor  actors  in  the  drama,  filled  the  haUs  and  staircases 
behind  the  clubs.  They  ranged  themselves  opposite  to  the  gov- 
ernment, leaving  a  space  of  a  few  steps  between  them  and  the 
chair  of  Dupont  de  I'Eure. 

"  Citizens,  what  do  yon  ask  ? "  said  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  in  a 
firm  voice. 

Blanqui  then  took  the  word  as  in  the  name  of  all,  and  in  a 
discourse  measured  in  form,  but  imperative  in  meaning,  he  pro- 
mulgated to  the  government  the  pretended  popular  views  of  a 
people  who  did  not  ent/?rtain  them.  It  was  the  adjournment  of 
the  elections ;  the  placing  of  the  future  National  Assembly 
under  suspicion  ;  the  removal,  from  principle  and  forever,  of  the 
troops  from  Paris ;  implicit  obedience  to  the  dictatorial  rule  of 


118  HISTORY   OF   THE 

the  multitude,  expressed  by  tlie  clubs ;  in  a  word,  the  complete 
subjection  of  the  government,  the  removal  beyond  the  pale  of 
the  law  of  all  but  the  populace  of  Paris  in  the  nation,  and  in- 
definite dictatorship  imposed  on  the  government,  on  the  condi- 
tion that  this  government  should  submit  and  itself  ratify  the 
dictatorship  of  sovereign  demagogueism. 

While  Blanqui  was  speaking,  the  countenance  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  government  were  impi'essed  with  indignation  and 
shame.  The  fiercest  sections  of  the  clubs  sustained,  by  look, 
attitude  and  gesture,  his  most  significant  words.  He  ended  by 
summoning  the  government,  in  the  name  of  the  people,  to  de- 
liberate as  promptly  as  possible  on  the  text  of  tbese  resolutions, 
and  to  make  the  result  of  their  deliberation  known  during  this 
session. 

Lamartine  did  not  deceive  himself  as  to  the  secret  motive 
which  had  inspired  this  great  popular  act.  He  doubted  not  that 
it  had  been  particularly  directed  against  him.  He  had  noticed 
in  the  programme  of  the  clubs  the  exact  reverse  of  what  he  had 
caused  to  be  signed  by  the  government  on  the  preceding  even- 
ing, in  the  proclamation  to  the  French  nation. 

The  cries  of  "  Down  with  Lamartine,  and  long  live  the  mi- 
nority of  the  government !  "  sufficiently  indicated  to  him  the 
intention  of  the  leaders  of  the  grand  review.  But  Lamartine 
also  perceived  clearly  that  this  demonstratory  review,  exagger- 
ated and  altered  by  the  clubs,  and  especially  by  the  Blanqui 
club,  overshot  the  mark  which  appeared  to  him  to  have  been 
assigned  by  its  organizers.  Although  he  was  evidently  the 
most  interested  in  the  programme  of  the  clubs,  and  was  naturally 
brought  most  nearly  in  connection  with  the  orators,  he  believed 
it  his  duty  to  keep  silent,  and  to  leave  to  his  colleagues,  more 
popular  and  less  suspected  than  himself  with  the  demagogue 
agitators,  the  task  of  taking  up  the  challenge,  and  of  aveng- 
ing or  of  surrendering  the  independence  of  the  government. 
Avenged,  it  would  suffice  for  him  ;  surrendered,  he  would  have 
claimed  it  again  in  his  own  name  and  that  of  his  friends. 

His  colleagues  did  not  leave  him  long  in  this  perplexity ;  they 
avenged  it  in  terms  equally  eloquent  and  energetic. 

Louis  Blanc  spoke  like  a  man  who  identifies  himself  com- 
pletely with  the  spirit  of  his  colleagues  ;  who  rises,  in  the  name 
of  their  independence  and  his  own,  against  the  oppression,  even 
of  ideas,  which  might  be  his,  perhaps,  if  they  were  not  ordered 
from  him.  His  speech  visibly  disconcerted  the  countenances  of 
the  popular  leaders. 


REVOLmON    OF     1848.  119 

Ledm  Rollin  spoke  like  a  member  of  government  who  yields 
nothing  of  his  independence  and  his  moral  liberty',  even  to  the 
influence  of  his  friendship ;  he  defended  the  army,  momentarily 
removed  from  Paris,  from  motives  of  prudence,  but  reconciled  at' 
speedily  as  possible  \A-ith  the  nation,  whose  right  and  force  it  bore 
in  itself.  He  yielded  nothing  on  the  elections,  and  on  the  sover- 
eignty of  t(ie  representation.  He  was  skilful  in  remaining  firm. 
These  two  replies,  of  men  in  whom  the  agitators  had  hoped 
perhaps  to  meet  with  complicity  or  encouragement,  reduced  them 
for  a  moment  to  immobilitj^  and  silence.  A  wavenng  was 
manifested  in  their  ranks,  as  in  a  defeated  army.  The  wisest 
among  them  drew  them  on  towards  retreat ;  but  a  group  of 
seven  or  eight  men,  who  surrounded  Blanqui,  and  who,  over  the 
head  of  their  chiefs,  confronted  the  government,  seemed  decided 
upon  the  utmost  extremities.  They  were  the  friends  of  Blanqui. 
One  of  them  was  a  young  man,  devoted  with  fanaticism,  it  is 
said,  to  the  ideas  and  the  person  of  his  master ;  his  countenance 
pale,  martial,  concentrated,  was  fixed  in  its  features  as  if  by  an 
expression  of  unalterable  conviction ;  his  form  tall,  motionless. 
Anthout  gesture,  enclosed  in  rectangular  lines ;  his  right  hand 
thrust  beneath  his  coat,  buttoned  up  to  the  throat ;  the  cold  and 
inflexible  resolution  of  his  look,  fastened  on  a  member  of  the 
government,  recalled  to  the  mind  and  to  the  eye  the  statues  of 
Brutus  meditating  the  last  conspiracy  of  libertj^,  the  hand 
grasping  a  poniard  concealed  beneath  his  toga. 

Although  he  appeared  as  timid  in  speech  as  he  seemed  reso- 
lute in  attitude,  when  he  saw  that  the  mob  was  wavering,  he 
raised  his  voice,  as  he  advanced  a  few  steps  towards  the  mem- 
bers of  government. 

"  All  that  is  fine  talking,"  said  he,  in  allusion  to  Louis  Blanc 
and  Ledru  Rollin  ;  "  but  't  is  nought  but  words  ;  acts  are  what 
we  need,  and  what  we  need  before  quitting  this  spot.  "We  will 
not  retire  until  you  have  deliberated  here  in  our  presence,  im- 
mediately." Upon  these  words  a  murmur  of  approbation  rose 
from  the  ranks  of  those  who  surrounded  him.  An  uproar  of 
indignation  broke  forth  from  the  ranks  of  the  government. 
Louis  Blanc  replied  in  an  excited  manner ;  Ledru  RoUin  was 
indignant ;  Cr.'mieux,  Marie,  Dupont  de  I'Eure,  all  the  mem- 
bers present,  protested  with  intrepidity'-  against  the  seditious 
demands  of  this  group  and  its  orator.  Explanations  were  con- 
fusedly oflfered  ;  it  was  agreed  that  there  was  accord  on  some 
points,  that  there  was  diflference  on  others,  that  deliberation 
should  be  held  upon  aU,  but  that  it  should  be  held  away  from 


120  HISTORY   OF   THE 

the  presence  of  the  ringleaders,  freely,  worthily,  at  its  day,  at 
its  hour,  and  without  any  promise  or  even  pre-juJgment  of  the 
resolutions  of  the  government.  This  petition  of  the  clubs  would 
be  considered  only  as  a  petition. 

At  all  these  considerations,  supported  by  the  reason  and  the 
moderation  of  a  part  even  of  the  delegates  of  the  clubs  them- 
selves, the  followers  of  Blanqui  tossed  the  head  in  sign  of  resist- 
ance and  obstinacy.  Sobrier,  who  loved  Lamartine  at  that 
time,  and  who  had  a  dread  of  blood,  made  useless  efforts  to 
calm  these  men  of  extremes.  —  "  It  is  well,  it  is  well,  citizens," 
at  length  shouted  the  orator;  "  these  sentiments  are  acceptable  ; 
but  do  you  all  have  them?  —  are  there  no  traitors  among  you? 
But  is  there  not  one  man  who  has  held  language  opposed  to 
these  wishes  of  the  people  ?  But  Lamartine,  for  example,  is  he 
not  with  you  ?  "  —  "  Let  him  explain  !  Let  him  explain  !  " 
cried,  with  a  threatening  tone,  the  sectaries  of  the  principal 
clubs.  —  "  No  !  no  !  no  !  "  exclaimed  Sobrier,  Cabet,  Raspail, 
Barbes.  •'  All  the  members  of  government  are  united;  our  con- 
fidence is  undivided  !  "  But  the  speaker  and  his  friends  kept 
calling  upon  Lamartine,  by  looks,  attitudes  and  gestures.  La- 
martine, advancing  then  a  few  steps  before  them,  signified  that 
he  wished  to  speak,  and  confronting  the  pale  and  menacing 
countenances  of  these  interlocutors,  he  said  :  — 

"  Citizens,  I  have  heard  my  name ;  I  respond  to  it.  I  will 
add  nothing  to  what  has  just  been  said  to  you,  with  as  much 
dignity  as  propriety,  by  our  colleague  Louis  Blanc.  You  feel, 
like  ourselves,  like  us  in  whom  the  people  have  reposed  their 
confidence,  and  in  whom  the  day  of  combat  and  of  victory  is  per- 
sonified, that  there  is  no  good  government  save  on  condition  that 
you  have  the  good  sense  to  confer  a  moral  authority  upon  that 
government.  Is  the  moral  authority  of  this  government  anything 
else,  not  only  for  itself,  but  also  for  the  republic,  for  the  depart- 
ments, for  Europe,  whose  attention  is  fixed  upon  us,  than  its 
complete  independence  of  all  foreign  pressure  ?  That  is  the 
independence  of  the  government,  that  is  its  dignity,  that  is  its 
sole  moral  force,  be  well  assured  of  it !  What  are  we  here  ? 
Look !  behold  our  venerable  president,  laden  with  the  weight 
and  the  glory  of  his  eighty  years,  and  who  has  wished  to  con- 
secrate his  last  strength,  at  our  head,  to  the  establishment  of 
the  republic,"  {Bravo !  bravo .')  "  with  independence,  with  digni- 
ty and  liberty ;  and  certainly  in  dignity  and  liberty  there  is  no 
French  citizen  who  could  belie  the  name  of  Dupont  de  I'Eure. 
Around  him,  whom  do  you  see  ?  A  small  group  of  men  unarmed, 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  121 

without  material  support,  without  soldiers,  without  guards; 
who  have  no  other  authority  than  that  which  the  people  main- 
tains for  them  by  respecting  them ;  who  seek  for  no  other ;  who 
plunge,  who  immerse  themselves  wholly  in  this  people  from 
whom  they  came,  and  who  have  taken  in  the  republic  so  en- 
ergetic and  so  perilous  a  part  only  to  be  the  guarantees  of 
those  popular  interests,  hitherto  sacrificed  under  the  monar- 
chies, under  the  aristocracies,  under  the  oligarchies,  that  we 
have  traversed. 

"  But  in  order  that  this  sentiment  may  have  its  effect,  in  or- 
der that  these  popular  principles  may  become  useful  applica- 
tions to  the  happiness  and  to  the  rights  of  the  people,  what  is 
requisite  ?  The  continuance,  possible  in  calm,  in  order,  of  the 
confidence  which  you  have  given  us.  What  could  we  oppose 
to  you  ?  Nothing  except  one  thing,  your  own  reason  itself ! 
That  might  of  the  general  reason  which  interposes  alone  here 
between  you  and  us,  which  inspires  us,  and  which  checks  you 
before  us  I  It  is  this  moral  force,  invisible,  and  yet  all-power- 
ful, which  renders  us  calm  ourselves,  independent  and  dignified 
in  face  of  these  masses  which  surround  this  palace  of  a  people 
defended  by  its  own  inviolability  !  "  (Very  good  !  shout  the 
pacified  clubs.) 

"  This  last  barrier  of  our  independence,"  resumes  Lamar- 
tme,  '•  we  would  defend  till  death,  as  members  of  government 
and  as  men,  if  the  pressure  of  the  multitude  wished  to  pass  it ! 
And  it  is  not  for  ourselves,  it  is  above  all  for  you,  that  we 
would  perish  in  its  defence  !  What  would  a  people  be  without 
government,  and  what  would  a  disgraced  government  become 
for  a  people  ?  "     {Good  .') 

"  I  come  to  three  questions  that  you  have  proposed  :  a  delay 
of  ten  more  days  for  the  elections  of  the  National  Guard. 

"  With  respect  to  this,  in  previous  deliberations,  we  have 
thought  to  anticipate  both  the  legitimate  wishes  of  the  people 
and  your  own  desires.  It  has  been  represented  to  us  that  the 
imposing,  solid,  patriotic,  republican  mass  of  the  population. 
which  forms  the  immense  popular  element  of  Paris,  had  not 
perhaps  had  time  to  inscribe  their  names  on  the  lists,  and  thus 
enter  the  vast  patriotic  frame-work  within  which  we  would 
henceforth  enclose  the  whole  public  force.  We  at  first  ad- 
journed for  eight  days  ;  we  afterwards  adjourned  till  the  25th 
of  March.  1  cannot  pronounce  individually,  and  I  would  not 
at  this  moment,  upon  the  results  of  the  new  deliberation  which 

VOL.  II.  11 


122  HISTORY   OF    THE 

may  take  place  upon  this  subject ;   but  you  have  fifteen  days 
in  all  for  the  inscription. 

"  As  for  the  troops,  I  already  replied,  yesterday,  to  one  of  the 
patriotic  associations  to  which  you  belong  :  the  question  does 
not  exist ;  there  are  no  troops  at  Paris,  except  perhaps  fifteen 
hundred  or  two  thousand  men  dispersed  at  the  outer  posts,  for 
the  protection  of  the  gates  and  railroads,  and  it  is  not  true 
that  the  government  has  thought  of  bringing  them  nearer  Par- 
is. He  must  needs  be  insane,  after  what  has  passed,  after  the 
fallen  royalty  has  seen  eighty  thousand  troops  sink  before  the 
unarmed  people  of  Paris,  who  should  think  of  imposing  on  it, 
with  the  aid  of  a  few  scattered  corps  animated  with  the  same 
republicanism,  wishes  contrary  to  your  wishes  and  to  your  in- 
dependence !  We  have  not  thought  of  it,  we  do  not  think  of 
it,  we  never  shall  think  of  it !  Behold  the  truth ;  carry  it  to 
the  people ;  its  liberty  belongs  to  them,  because  they  have  con- 
quered it  —  belongs  to  them,  because  they  will  know  how  to 
guard  it  from  all  disorder !  The  republic  wants  no  other  de- 
fender at  home  than  the  people  in  arms. 

"  But  although  that  be  the  truth  to-day,  and  we  declare  to 
you  that  we  want  only  the  people  in  arms  to  protect  our  insti- 
tutions, do  not  thence  conclude  that  we  should  ever  consent  to 
the  loss  of  French  soldiers."  {No  !  no  !  bravo  .')  "  Do  not 
thence  conclude  that  we  would  cast  suspicion  on  our  brave 
army,  and  that  we  interdict  ourselves  from  summoning  it  even 
to  the  interior,  even  to  Paris,  if  the  circumstances  of  war  should 
compel  such  or  such  dispositions  of  our  forces  for  the  external 
security  of  our  country  ! 

"  The  soldier,  who  yesterday  was  merely  a  soldier,  is  to-day 
a  citizen  like  you  and  us."    {Yes,  yes  .')    "  We  have  given  him 
the  right  to  contribute  by  his  vote  as  a  citizen  to  the  representa 
tion  and  to  liberty,  which  he  shall  be  as  able  to  defend  as  any 
other  fraction  of  the  people. 

"  As  to  the  third  and  principal  question,  that  of  the  postpone- 
ment of  the  convocation  of  the  National  Assembly  to  a  distant 
period,  I  will  not  consent  to  pledge  in  anything  either  the  opinion 
of  my  colleagues,  or  especially  my  own,  upon  such  a  measure, 
which  concerns  too  deeply,  in  my  view,  the  rights  of  the  whole 
country.  I  wish,  from  respect  for  our  independence,  nowise  to 
prejudge  a  decree  which  would  tend  to  declare  to  the  nation 
that  Paris  affected  the  monopoly  of  liberty  and  of  the  republic  ; 
and  which  would  make  us  assume,  in  the  name  of  a  single  capi- 
tal, and  under  the  constraint  of  a  mass  of  people,  whose  inten- 


REVOLTTTION   OF    1848.  123 

tions  are  good,  but  whose  very  numlier  is  imperative,  the  dicta- 
torship of  liberty,  conquered  here  by  all,  but  conquered  by  entire 
France,  and  not  by  a  few  citizens  only.  If  you  should  com- 
mand me  to  deliberate  under  force,  and  to  pronovmce  beyond 
the  pale  of  l.iw  the  whole  nation  which  is  not  at  Paris,  —  to  de- 
clare it  during  three  months,  six  months,  for  aught  I  know, 
excluded  from  its  representation  and  from  its  constitution,  —  1 
should  say  to  you  what  I  said  a  few  days  ago  to  another  gov- 
ernment :  you  should  not  tear  this  vote  from  my  breast  until 
bullets  had  pierced  it ! "     [Applause.) 

"  No  !  rather  a  thousand  times  deprive  us  of  our  title,  than 
deprive  us  of  our  freedom  of  opinion,  of  our  dignity,  of  our  evi- 
dent inviolability,  —  evident  abroad,  be  informed,  as  well  as  at 
home.  For  in  order  that  a  government  may  be  respected,  it  is 
indispensable  that  it  should  have  not  only  the  reality,  but  the 
appearance,  of  liberty."     (Very  good !  very  good '.) 

"  Comprehend,  then,  your  own  power  in  ours,  your  own  dig- 
nity in  ours,  your  own  independence  in  ours,  and  leave  us  in 
the  very  interest  of  this  people,  to  reflect  and  deliberate  in  com- 
posure, to  adopt  or  to  reject  the  wishes  of  Avhich  you  are  the 
organ  to  us.  We  promise  you,  I  promise  for  myself,  only  to 
weigh  them  conscientiously,  without  fear  or  prejudice,  and  to 
decide  what  shall  appear  to  us  not  only  the  will  of  the  people 
of  Paris,  but  the  right  and  the  will  of  the  whole  republic." 
(Very  good.) 

The  deputation  applauded  ;  some  of  its  members  shook  hands 
with  Lamartine. 

One  of  them  said,  "  Be  assured  that  the  people  is  yonder  only 
to  sustain  the  provisional  government." 

Lamartine  replies,  "  I  am  convinced  of  it ;  but  the  nation 
might  possibly  be  deceived  by  it.  Beware  of  assemblings  of 
this  nature,  however  fine  they  may  be  ;  the  eighteenth  Bru- 
maires  of  the  people  might  bring  about,  in  spite  of  it,  the 
eighteenth  Brumaire  of  despotism  ;  and  neither  you  nor  we 
desire  that." 

Silence  in  the  group  of  violent  clubs,  applause  in  the  group 
of  moderate  clubs,  followed  these  words.  But  the  more  obsti- 
nate resumed  their  audacity,  and  tending  evidently  towards 
pronouncing  the  ostracism  of  Lamartine,  "  We  have  not  con- 
fidence in  all  the  members  of  government,"  cried  they.  —  "  Yes, 
yes  !  in  all !  in  all  !  "  replied  the  voices  of  Suau,  Sobrier,  Barbes, 
and  hundreds  of  their  friends.  "  No,  no  !  "  —  "  Yes,  yes  !  "  — 
"  They  must  be  constrained  !  "  —  "  They  must  be  respected !  " 


dJ 


124  HISTORY    OF    THE 

and  a  thousand  other  contradictory  cries,  divided  the  groups. 
Violence  was  on  the  lips,  in  the  accent,  in  the  looks.  The 
members  of  government  remained  firm.  Barbes,  then  attached 
to  Lamartine,  Sobrier,  Easpail,  and  Cabet,  pressed  into  the  space 
which  separated  the  two  parties.  Blanqui  remained  motionless, 
and  appeared  rather  to  quiet  his  followers  than  to  approve  their 
resistance. 

Cabet  spoke ;  his  discourse  made  a  good  impression  on  the 
crowd.  Barbes,  Easpail,  and  others,  still  supported  the  words 
of  Cabet,  and  defended  the  independence  of  the  government. 
Disorder  entered  the  groups,  confusion  the  councils ;  the  cries 
of  "  Vive  ie  gmivernment  provisoire ! "  which  rose  from  the 
square,  and  which  bore  witness  to  the  attachment  of  the  people, 
made  the  men  of  .extremes  reflect.  These  clamors  taught  them 
that  if  they  lifted  the  hand  against  a  government  dear  to  the 
people,  the  vengeance  of  the  people  would  not  be  slow  to  make 
them  expiate  their  crime.  Barbes,  Sobrier,  Suau,  and  Cabet, 
profited  by  this  wavering  of  the  column  to  make  it  retire,  and  to 
deliver  the  government  from  this  constraint.  The  clubs  evac- 
uated the  halls  and  the  stairways ;  they  resumed  their  position 
in  front  of  the  fence  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  The  government, 
loudly  called  upon  by  a  hundred  tiiousand  voices,  descended, 
following  their  president  on  the  outer  steps  of  the  great  stair- 
case. It  was  saluted  by  frantic  acclamations,  in  the  midst  of 
which  the  names  of  Ledru  RoUin  and  Louis  Blanc  were  heard 
to  predominate  more  than  usual.  Lamartine,  thus  admonished 
that  the  favor  of  the  nearest  portion  of  the  multitude  was  ad- 
dressed to  them,  permitted  them  to  present  themselves  first  to 
the  people,  and  to  wrap  themselves  in  their  popularity.  He  fell 
back  into  the  second  rank,  and  received  but  little  applause. 

Louis  Blanc  harangued  the  people,  and  thanked  them  for  this 
display  of  force  with  which  they  surrounded  their  dictators. 
The  people,  deceived  by  these  expressions  of  favor,  sincerely 
believed  that  they  had  just  performed  an  act  of  patriotic  adhe- 
sion, and  struck  a  blow  at  faction,  when  they  had,  in  fact,  com- 
mitted a  seditious  violence  upon  the  government,  for  the  benefit 
of  a  minority  of  the  clubs  and  a  minority  of  Paris. 

The  members  of  the  majority  of  the  government  prudently 
feigned  to  consider  this  demonstration  as  if  it  had  been  made 
for"^  their  own 'interests  ;  but  they  did  not  disguise  from  them- 
selves the  real  meaning  of  the  day,  and  they  began  to  distrust 
an  influence  which  had  proceeded,  and  could  proceed,  to  any 
extremity.     Their  countenance  affected  satisfaction  and  grati- 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  125 

tude,  while  their  soul  was  profoundly  indignant  at  the  audacity 
and  success  of  certain  leaders.  Paris  itself  was  only  half 
deceived.  From  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  till  nine  o'clock 
in  the  evening,  the  capital  saw  this  mass  of  people  defile  over 
the  boulevards  and  its  principal  quarters,  not  armed  with  mus- 
kets, but  armed  by  their  number,  which  resembled  one  of  those 
ancient  migrations,  transporting  a  whole  nation  from  one  bank 
of  a  river  to  the  other.  The  more  this  army  was  calm,  sober, 
silent,  disciplined,  governed  by  a  watch-word,  ignorant,  but 
obedient  —  the  more  its  aspect  imposed  upon  the  capital,  with- 
out menacing  any  one  ;  the  more  it  weighed  upon  the  minds 
of  all,  and  said  openly  that  Paris  was  henceforth  at  the  mercy 
of  the  destitute  alone.  But  it  said  also,  that  these  proletaries, 
calm  in  their  triumph,  generous  and  civilized  in  their  power, 
anhnated  by  the  instinct  of  order,  raised  against  what  they 
believed  to  be  anarchy,  to  support  a  government  which  they 
were  told  was  menaced,  were  no  longer  the  brutal  people  of 
1793,  but  the  people  of  1S48,  —  the  presage  of  another  civil- 
ization. 

Lamartine  went  out  alone,  on  foot,  at  nightfall,  from  the 
Hotel  de  Ville.  He  passed  two  hours,  unknown  and  mingled 
in  the  crowd,  at  the  extremity  of  the  Saint  Honore,  upon  the 
place  Vendome,  contemplating  the  silent  procession  of  this 
multitude. 

The  costume  of  these  men  was  decent,  their  step  military, 
their  countenance  expressing  strength  and  peace.  They  evi- 
dently feared  that  they  might  frighten  the  citizens  and  the 
women.  Terrible  from  their  numbers,  they  were  reiissuring  in 
spirit.  Paris  trembled  under  their  steps.  For  twelve  hours 
there  was  not  a  cry  of  a  demagogue,  not  a  sign  of  terror,  not 
an  insult,  not  a  violence,  not  an  accident,  to  deplore  in  this 
crowd.     It  respected  every  one,  and  it  respected  itself. 


Lamartine  returned  to  the  Hotel  of  Foreign  Affairs,  uncer- 
tain of  the  interpretation  which  public  opinion  would  give  in 
the  morning  to  this  event.  He  was  not  deceived  himself  as  to 
its  design.     He  saw  in  it  a  signal  defeat  of  the  moderate  ma- 

i'ority  of  the  government,  and  an  insolent  oppression  exercised 
>y  certain  men,  disguised  under  the  form  of  a  concurrence  and 
a  homage  to  the  republic  ;  a  review  of  the  forces  of  the  ultra- 
revolutionary  minority  of   Paris,  conunanded   by  those  who 
VOL.  II.  11* 


126  HISTOBV   OF   THE 

wished  to  constrain  and  rule  the  republic  by  intimidation,  in 
appealing  to  the  real  and  patriotic  enthusiasm  of  the  people  for 
their  government.  • 

He  resolved  to  feign  to  be  deceived,  and  to  assume  the  air 
of  considering  as  a  powerful  support  what  he  knew  in  fact  was 
a  tyranny.  It  was  the  only  course  to  prevent  Paris  and  France 
from  being  struck  with  stupor  and  despair  for  public  order. 
But  after  that  hour  he  felt  that  he  had  two  difficult  spirits 
to  conciliate  within  the  government,  up  to  the  end  of  the  dic- 
tatorship. The  programme  of  the  clubs,  which  consisted  in 
perpetuating  the  dictatorship,  in  adjourning  the  elections,  in  put- 
ting France  beyond  the  law,  and  in  making  a  single  city  and  a 
single  class  of  the  population  of  that  city  rule,  through  certain 
men,  would  find  sympathy  within  the  circle  of  the  government. 
The  members  of  the  clubs,  the  delegates  of  the  Luxembourg,  the 
emissaries  of  the  club  of  clubs, — a  kind  of  officious  commission- 
ers, who  served  as  channels  of  communication  between  the  min- 
ister of  the  interior  and  the  public  mind,  —  appeared  imbued  with 
this  idea,  that  France  was  not  ripe  for  liberty,  such  as  they  un- 
derstood it ;  that  they  could  not  restore  its  own  government  to 
the  country;  that  the  republic  belonged  to  them  exclusively,  from 
the  right  acquired  by  having  originated  it,  and  by  democratic 
superiority ;  that  they  must  reign  in  their  own  name  and  for 
themselves  alone ;  and  that,  to  secure  obedience,  they  must 
hold  the  language  and  assume  the  position  of  the  committee 
of  public  safety. 

Lamartine,  on  the  contrary,  and  the  majority  of  the  govern- 
ment, were  convinced,  that  liberty  monopolized  by  a  few  would 
be  servitude  and  degradation  for  all ;  that  the  adjournment  of 
the  elections,  and  making  the  National  Assembly  outlaws, 
would  be  the  signal  for  the  insurrection  of  the  departments  and 
civil  war;  that  the  dictatorship  of  pretended  republicans,  by 
right  of  democratic  supremacy,  would  only  be  the  dictatorship 
of  popularity,  to  be  enhanced  by  violence  and  crime ;  that  each 
week  would  bring  forth  and  devour  one  of  these  pretended  dic- 
tators ;  that  Paris  would  be  drowned  in  anarchy  and  blood,  and 
that  the  name  of  the  republic  would  a  second  time  perish, 
amidst  the  execrations  of  the  present  and  the  incredulity  of 
the  future.  He  consequently  resolved  to  combat  to  the  utmost, 
and  by  every  legitimate  means,  the  conspiracies  of  the  partisans 
of  a  dictatorship  and  of  committees  of  public  safety,  and  even  to 
sacrifice  himself,  if  necessary,  for  the  most  prompt  and  complete 
restoration  of  the  sovereignty  of  all  France  and  of  the  govern- 
ment to  the  national  representatives. 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  127 

XI. 

But  t-iere  was  an  abyss  of  anarchy  and  eventual  despotism 
which  it  appeared  at  that  time  impossible  to  traverse  before 
the  arrival  of  that  day.  The  men  most  wise  and  consum- 
mate in  policy  were  incredulous  in  this  respect.  They  did  not 
cease  to  repeat  to  Lamartine  that  he  was  attempting  a  chimeri- 
cal enterprise;  that  he  would  perish  at  the  task;  and  that  never 
would  the  ultra-republican  and  conventionalist  party,  having 
obtained  a  footing  in  the  government,  masters  of  two  hundred 
thousand  men  in  Paris,  and  of  the  influence  of  the  commission- 
ers and  the  clubs  in  the  departments,  of  the  industrial  classes 
everywhere,  of  the  police,  of  the  Luxembourg,  of  the  public 
square  by  the  absence  of  the  army,  of  half  of  the  National 
Guard  by  the  arming  of  the  faubourgs,  of  the  national  work- 
shops by  wages  and  sedition,  allow  power  to  be  torn  from  them 
by  the  elections,  without  rending  it,  and  imbruing  it  in  blood, 
before  resigning  it  to  the  nation. 

Lamartine  knew,  better  than  they,  all  these  difficulties  and 
perils  :  but  he  was  sure  of  his  colleagues ;  he  felt  himself  in  the 
right ;  he  judged  men  with  a  sagacity,  benevolent,  it  is  true,  but 
instinctive  and  rapid ;  besides,  he  had  no  other  choice.  He 
must  triumph,  or  perish  heroically  and  honorably  in  the  enter- 
prise. He  was  resigned  to  that  fate,  if  it  must  be  so,  sure  that 
his  very  death,  immediately  avenged,  would  be  the  signal  of 
the  general  insurrection  of  the  country  against  the  tyranny  of 
the  demagogue  dictators.  He  marched  onward  to  his  object, 
then,  without  illusion,  but  not  without  hope ;  decided  to  nego- 
tiate or  to  combat,  provided  that  he  triumphed  as  to  the  two 
points  which  were  of  all  importance,  —  the  question  of  war 
abroad,  and  the  question  of  the  convocation  of  the  National 
Assembly  at  home. 

XIL 

The  demonstration  of  the  seventeenth  of  March,  and  the  im- 
perative programme  of  the  clubs,  had  sufficiently  revealed  to 
him  the  idea  of  dictatorship  entertained  by  the  visible  or  secret 
leaders  of  this  movement.  They  had  borne  the  false  voice  of 
the  people,  to  publish  it  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  Since  that  day, 
the  journals  of  the  revolution ;  the  movements,  by  night,  in  the 
clubs ;  the  strolling  orators  in  the  crowds ;  the  acts,  words  and 
circulars,  of  some  popular  commissioners  in  the  provinces ; 
words  uttered  from  the  heat  of  conviction  in  the  conversations 


128  HISTORY    Oi    THE 

of  men  intimately  allied  with  the  clubs ;  the  confidences,  reve- 
lations and  placards,  —  all  indicated  to  Lamartine  that  the 
adjournment  of  the  elections,  and  the  indefinite  prolongation 
of  the  dictatorship,  were  the  watchwords  of  the  secret  ultra- 
republican  committees.  If  this  idea,  which  flattered  the  pride 
of  the  turbulent  population  of  Paris,  to  whom  it  decreed  the 
empire,  had  time  to  be  propagated  and  disseminated,  so  as 
to  become  the  creed  and  passion  of  the  masses,  there  would  be 
an  end  of  the  republic  ;  it  could  be  extirpated  only  by  the 
sword.  France  would  be  obliged  to  re-conquer  her  capital 
through  waves  of  blood.  The  reign  of  this  turbulent  and  ex- 
clusive party  of  the  people,  achieved  by  the  tribunes,  at  once 
sovereign  and  enchained,  like  the  dictator  dreamed  of  by  Marat, 
would  be  inevitably  a  reign  of  executioners,  soon  to  become 
victims,  to  make  room  for  other  executioners,  victims  in  their 
turn.  Lamartine  trembled  for  his  country.  No  want  of  sleep 
was  spared  to  prevent  so  cruel  a  catastrophe  for  the  revolution. 

Two  means  remained  for  him  —  force  and  negotiation.  He 
resolved  to  combine  them,  and  to  employ  them  in  turn,  at 
every  hazard,  according  to  the  men  and  circumstances  he 
should  be  obliged  to  contend  with. 

A  brave  general, — who  has  since  died  for  his  country,  —  an 
intrepid  soldier,  a  chief  adored  by  his  troops,  an  old  citizen, 
Negrier,  commanded  the  army  of  the  north.  This  army,  of 
twenty-six  thousand  men,  was  controlled  by  the  hand  of  its 
general  with  a  vigor  and  gentleness  of  command  that  en- 
chained it  to  his  will  by  love  more  than  by  discipline.  Ne- 
grier had  been  sometimes  attacked  in  the  council  by  the 
denunciations  of  the  demagogue  commissioners,  who  re- 
proached him  with  having  served  under  the  princes,  and  who 
suspected  his  honor  when  they  suspected  his  fidelity  to  the 
republic.  These  suspicions  had  no  foundation.  His  heart 
might  be  devoted  to  gratitude  ;  his  duty  was  to  his  country. 
M.  Arago,  minister  of  war,  the  constant  and  courageous  de- 
fender of  the  ofhcers  of  the  army,  always  energetically  refused 
to  ratify  these  encroachments  or  these  accusations  of  certain 
disorranizing  commissioners.  Lamartine  had  also  sustained 
the  generals  against  the  revolutionary  omnipotence  of  the  pro- 
consuls, and  Negrier  in  particular.  As  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  he  wished  a  disposable  army,  and  one  safe  from  faction, 
on  the  frontier  of  Belgium.  Belgium  might  become,  at  any 
moment,  as  in  1792,  the  battle-field  of  Europe ;  for  it  is  one  of 
the  grand  breaches  of  France.    As  a  statesman,  he  wished  the 


KEVOLUTIOX    OF    1848.  129 

nucleus  of  an  army  at  Lille,  in  order  that  if  the  anarchical  and 
sanguinary  demagogues  should  triumph  at  Paris,  the  moderate 
republicans,  vanquished  and  expelled  from  Paris,  should  have 
a  reserve  prepared  in  the  department  of  the  north.  This  re- 
serve, under  the  command  of  Negrier,  would  be,  in  this  case, 
the  rallying  point  of  the  National  Guard  of  those  excellent 
departments,  and  would  re-conquer  Paris  and  the  republic  from 
the  tyranny  of  the  demagogues,  with  which  it  was  every  day 
menaced. 

XIII. 

Negrier,  on  his  part,  without  being  personally  acquainted 
with  Lamartine,  knew,  from  his  speeches  and  his  acts,  that  he 
had,  in  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  a  man  after  his  own 

heart.     A  friend  of  the  general,  M.  D ,  commandant  of 

battalion  in  the  National  Guard  of  Paris,  an  active  confidant  of 
the  efforts  of  Lamartine  to  save  order  and  restrain  the  revolu- 
tion, made  many  journeys  to  the  army  of  the  north,  and  was 
the  intelligent  agent  of  the  communications  between  Lamartine 
and  Negrier.  The  general  held  himself  ready,  either  to  receive 
the  government  from  Lille,  in  case  of  retreat  from  Paris,  or  to 
march  upon  Amiens  or  Abbeville  at  the  first  call  which  the 
government  should  make  to  those  departments  to  come  to  the 
aid  of  Paris.  This  reserved  army  of  the  north,  under  the  com- 
mand of  a  resolute  and  faithful  general,  was  the  last  resource 
of  Lamartine.  It  reassured  him,  not  for  himself,  but  for  the 
Parisians  and  for  France  ;  for  he  well  knew  that  if  the  dema- 
gogues should  triumph  over  the  good  citizens,  he  would  be 
their  first  victim.  But  he  did  not  doubt  of  the  future.  The 
army  of  the  north,  recruited  in  ten  days,  by  twenty  thousand 
men  from  the  army  of  the  Rhine,  and  by  five  hundred  thou- 
sand National  Guards  from  the  departments  of  the  north,  the 
east,  and  the  west,  could  not  fail  to  sink  in  their  own  blood 
the  dictators  and  committees  of  public  safety  who  dreamed 
of  renewing  the  tyrannies  of  1793.  This  thought,  in  the 
greatest  extremities  of  the  government,  gave  repose  to  the 
mind  of  Lamartine.  The  name  of  Negrier  sounded  secretly 
in  his  ear  like  a  last  hope,  or,  at  least,  like  a  certain  vengeance 
of  society  overthrown.  He  did  not  confide  this  thought  to  any 
one,  from  fear  of  drawing  upon  Negrier  the  suspicions  and  accu- 
sations of  the  demagoorues. 


130 


HISTORY    OF   THE 


XIV. 

Tranquil  on  this  side,  he  resolved  to  make  efforts  of  a  dif 
ferent  nature  upon  the  spirit  and  patriotism  of  the  principal 
chiefs  of  sects,  opinions,  clubs,  and  radical  journals,  alone  pow- 
erful enough  at  that  time  to  excite  Paris;  men  without  whorp 
the  most  audacious  conspirators  could  do  nothing  with  the 
people.  If  he  should  fail,  in  his  intercourse  with  them,  to 
obtain  from  them  patience,  reason,  and  moderation,  until  the 
day  of  the  general  elections,  he  would  advise  with  his  friends 
of  the  government,  and  hold  himself  ready  for  a  desperate 
combat  between  the  two  camps  of  the  republic  in  Paris.  If  he 
should  succeed,  he  would  become  master  of  the  most  active 
forces  of  the  revolution,  through  these  men,  and  he  would 
paralyze  by  them  the  attempts  of  communism,  of  terrorism, 
and  the  partisans  of  the  dictatorship  and  of  war.  He  believed 
m  the  good  intentions  of  the  very  men  who  were  the  most 
fanatical,  and  in  the  diplomacy  of  confidence  and  frankness 
with  them.  It  was  this  faith  that  saved  Paris  and  France 
from  the  greatest  disasters.  If  he  had  not  opened  his  heart  to 
these  adversaries,  prejudiced  against  him,  —  if  he  had  not  read 
their  soul  and  their  designs,  —  these  men  would  have  persevered 
in  believing  that  Lamartine  had  only  entered  the  republic  to 
raise  it  and  betray  it ;  that  he  plotted  a  counter  revolution; 
that  he  dreamed  of  the  superannuated  part  of  a  popular  Monk; 
and  these  men,  uniting  against  him,  with  the  partisans  of  war, 
of  the  dictatorship,  and  of  the  proscription  of  the  government, 
would  have  infallibly  thrown  France  into  the  convulsions  of  a 
conventionalist  government. 


r 


] 


:> 


:  f 

3  } 

I 


XV. 

Some  of  these  men  Lamartine  already  knew.  He  made 
advances,  to  induce  others  to  have  interviews  with  him. 

One  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  political  writers  of  the  time 
was  M.  de  Lamennais.  M.  de  Lamennais,  formerly  an  apostle 
of  Catholicism,  had  changed  his  faith  and  his  part,  for  the  part 
of  an  apostle  of  the  destitute.  His  soul  was  melted  by  their 
misery.  His  style  was  hardened  by  their  resentment.  For 
twelve  years  he  was  the  voice  of  their  griefs,  and  sometimes 
the  cry  of  their  vengeance.  The  proclamation  of  the  republic 
had  suddenly,  and,  as  it  were,  miraculously  appeased  him.  It 
is  the  effect  of  victories  over  generous  hearts.     He  had  passed 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843. 


13) 


instantly  to  the  side  of  society,  menaced  by  terrorism,  social- 
ism, and  the  demagogues.     He  published  a  journal,  powerful 
over  the  minds  of  the  people,  from  its  name  and  its  talent,  — 
Le  Peuple  Co?istitua?it.     Lamartine,  who,  up  to  that  time,  had 
never  seen  in  ]\I.  de  Lamennais  anything  but  a  writer,  wa; 
astonished  to  find  in  him,  suddenly,  the  character,  moderation 
firmness,  and  views  of  a  politician.     This  journal  made   tht 
war,  the  demagogues,  and  the  anti-social  doctrines  unpopular 
If  ^I.  de  Lamennais  had  persevered,  France  would  have  count 
ed  in  him  one  statesman  the  more.     Lamartine  met  him  fre- 
quently at  that  time  at  the  house  of  a  woman  distinguished 
for  her  mind  and  her  liberalism.     ]\L  de  Lamennais  had  writ- 
ten a  plan  of  a  constitution,  in  which  the  public  force  was  not 
sufficiently  concentrated.     The   name  of  M.   de   Lamennais, 
become  moderate,  then   intimidated  excesses,  and  destroyed 
chimeras.     M.  de  Lamennais,  since  appointed  to  the  constitu- 
ent assembly,  too  much  disturbed  and  discontented  at  the  re- 
action, has  retraced  his  steps,  and  has  sought  again  the  path 
of  shadows;  an  immense  loss  for  the  practical  republic.    When 
genius  deserts,  the  cause  suffers,  and  the  age  is  in  mourning, 

Raspail,  very  powerful  in  the  faubourgs  of  Paris,  consented 
to  have  an  interview  with  Lamartine.  This  interview  was 
long,  and  without  concealment  on  either  side.  Lamartine  had 
once  heard  Raspail  defending  his  cause  before  the  House  of 
Peers.  He  had  been  struck  with  that  original  and  picturesque 
eloquence,  at  once  resigned  and  intrepid.  The  politics  of  Ras- 
pail appeared  to  consist  in  those  religious,  popular,  and  equal- 
izing aspirations,  rather  felt  than  digested  in  his  mind.  He 
became  impatient;  he  was  about  to  urge  the  people,  by  his 
journal  and  his  club,  to  demand  the  adjournment  of  the  elec- 
tions, and  a  popular  dictator  for  a  ruler.  Lamartine  calmed 
him,  by  showing  him  the  dangers  which  would  arise  for  the 
republic  from  so  intolerable  an  usurpation.  He  opened  to 
him  indefinite  prospects  of  progress  and  social  charity,  derived 
from  the  republican  institution,  as  far  as  the  developments  of 
the  reason  and  virtue  of  society  would  admit.  He  convinced 
him  of  the  impracticability  of  violent  transformations  of  the 
foundations  of  property.  He  conjured  him  to  give  time  and 
confidence  to  the  country,  by  usurping  nothing  from  the  sov- 
ereignty of  all.  Raspail,  more  philosophical  than  ambitious, 
was  touched  by  the  reasons  and  ardor  of  Lamartine ;  he  prom- 
ised him  to  retrace  his  steps,  to  combat  the  plots  for  a  dictator- 
ehip,  to  await  the  national  sovereignty,  and  not  to  conspire,  sav% 


132  HISTORY   OF   THE 

openly  and  at  the  tribune.  The  almost  superstitious  influ- 
ence which  he  exercised  over  the  minds  of  the  masses  con- 
tributed much,  during  this  period,  to  discourage  conspiracies, 
and  to  restrain  the  people  of  the  faubourgs  in  patience  and  law. 

Cabet,  whose  feebler  imagination  allowed  him  evidently 
to  be  carried  away  by  dreams  of  the  most  unbounded  am- 
bition, was  less  accessible  to  reason.  One  could  see  that 
his  chimerical  invention  of  communism  was  ever  floating 
between  him  and  the  person  with  whom  he  was  conversing. 
However,  as  a  citizen,  Lamartine  had  only  to  congratulate 
himself  upon  his  intercourse  with  Cabet.  This  sectarian  chief 
could  not  see  with  pleasure  the  attempts  for  a  dictatorship, 
which  would  give  the  supremacy  to  the  socialists  or  to  the  trib- 
unes, his  rivals  in  system  and  popularity ;  he  restrained  the 
communists  of  his  party,  and  through  them  an  active  portion 
of  the  people,  in  expectation  that  Lamartine  would  overawe 
all  parties. 

A  young  man,  who  had  once  shown  great  promise  of  talent 
at  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  M.  d'Alton  Shee,  was  at  this  time 
applauded  in  the  popular  meetings.  He  combated  with 
warmth  and  disinterestedness  the  anarchical  plans  and  radical 
doctrines.  Since  drawn  into  other  paths,  he  lost  track  of  the 
republic.  Lamartine,  who  had  hoped  much  from  his  activity, 
his  courage,  and  his  talent,  lost  sight  of  him. 

Barbes  still  came,  from  time  to  time,  at  this  epoch,  to  the 
house  of  Lamartine.  His  intentions  were  right,  but  confused ; 
he  began  to  be  misled,  without  wishing  it,  and  without  know- 
ing it,  by  his  old  comrades  of  imprisonment.  A  man  of  action, 
men  of  system  drew  him,  without  his  distrusting  it,  to  their 
cause.  He  was  the  soldier  of  the  impossible ;  he  could  not 
delay  passing  over  to  the  desperate  men  of  the  democracy. 

But  Barbes,  capable  of  conspiring,  was  incapable  of  betray- 
ing. His  presence  in  the  ranks  of  the  anarchists  reassured 
more  than  it  disquieted  Lamartine.  He  believed  in  his  seduc- 
tion, but  he  was  sure  of  his  loyalty. 

One  of  the  friends  and  companions  of  captivity  of  Barbes, 
the  young  Lamieussens,  exercised  a  happy  influence  over  the 
radical  republicans  of  this  camp  of  the  revolution.  Lamartine 
had  distinguished  him,  and  proposed  to  make  use  of  his  talents. 
He  placed,  at  this  time,  a  great  number  of  young  republicans 
abroad,  in  the  chanceries,  the  vice-consulates,  and  in  some  of 
the  consulates,  dependent  on  his  office.  These  nominations, 
since  blamed,  were  all  politic.     It  was  not  proper  to  allow  to. 


s> 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  133 

become  embittered  or  vitiated  in  the  factions  of  Paris  those 
men  who  had  suffered  for  their  cause,  and  who  rendered  ser- 
vices to  the  republic  by  directing  and  moderating  the  people  of 
Paris. 


XVI. 

Sobrier  continued  constantly  to  see  Lamartine.  Enthusias- 
tic, rather  than  ambitious,  he  acquired  each  day  more  ascen- 
dency over  the  revolutionary  growth  of  the  quarters  in  the 
centre  of  Paris.  He  employed,  at  this  time,  that  ascendency 
in  the  service  of  the  ideas  of  order  and  moderation.  He  coun- 
teibalanced,  by  his  journal  and  his  club,  the  influence  of  the 
other  journals  and  other  conventicles  of  the  party  of  dictator- 
ships and  excess.  He  wished  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the 
government,  even  by  arms.  His  journal.  La  Commune  de 
Paris,  often  gave  vent  to  hymns  and  doctrines  of  evil  date ; 
but  he  recommended  order,  the  fraternity  of  all  ranks  of  citi- 
zens, respect  for  property,  the  inviolability  of  conscience,  peace 
with  the  powers,  and  negotiation  until  the  day  when  the  Na- 
tional Assembly  should  come  to  represent  all  the  rights  and  to 
make  all  the  laws.  These  doctrines  of  Sobrier  had  so  much 
the  more  credit  with  the  multitude,  as  no  person  surpassed  him, 
in  their  eyes,  in  exaggeration  of  fanaticism  and  hope. 

He  had,  moreover,  personal  courage.  Acquainted  with  the 
projects  formed  daily  in  the  ultra-republican  meetings  for  deci- 
mating the  government,  for  surprising  the  ministry  of  finance 
and  that  of  foreign  aflfairs,  and  of  carrying  off  Lamartine,  and 
substituting  men  of  extreme  opinions  in  his  stead,  Sobrier 
had  enrolled  five  or  six  hundred  men.  He  had  obtained  arms 
for  them  from  Caussidiere  for  a  perfect  loyal  design ;  he  held 
a  sort  of  head-quarters  of  armed  police  in  the  rue  de  Rivoli. 
Lamartine  was  informed  by  Sobrier  himself  of  all  these  circum- 
stances. He  had  even  contributed  for  him,  from  the  disbursers 
of  the  civil  list,  the  loan  or  rent  of  the  rooms  occupied  for  the 
head-quarters  opposite  the  Tuileries.  Whenever  alarming  in- 
telligence respecting  a  manifestation  against  the  public  peace, 
or  a  plot  against  the  government  or  himself,  reached  Lamartine, 
he  gave  information  to  Sobrier,  who  received  his  orders  and 
prepared  his  men  in  groups,  and  his  means  of  defence  around 
the  threatened  ministers. 

Paris  was  then  entirely  stripped  of  troops,  and  unprovided 
with  a  National  Guard.     Parties  defied  each  other.     Each  had 

VOL.  II.  12 


134 


HISTORY    DF   THE 


its  police  and  army.  Sobrier  was  the  Caussidiere  of  the  other 
half  of  Paris.  Lamartine  could  only  praise  his  disinterested 
zeal  for  the  public  peace  up  to  the  time  of  the  elections ;  he 
then  abandoned  himself  to  bad  counsels,  plunged  into  the  elec- 
toral movements  of  the  most  exclusive  socialists,  suffered  the 
spirit  of  his  journal  to  be  perverted,  and,  w^ith  puerile  perti- 
nacity, surrounded  himself  with  a  system  of  armed  conspiracy, 
which  was  no  more  than  a  folly,  though  it  resembled  a  plot. 
General  Courtais  informed  Lamartine  of  it.  Lamartine,  who 
had  ceased  to  see  him  since  these  scandalous  doings,  sent  word 
to  him  twice  to  dismiss  his  satellites,  return  his  arms,  and  again 
enter  the  pale  of  the  law ;  in  default  of  which,  government  would 
employ  severity  towards  him.  He  obeyed,  but  imperfectly. 
We  shall  encounter  him  again  of  the  15th  of  May. 


xvn. 

Lamartine  also  formed  open  relations  with  the  most  influen- 
tial minds  and  most  popular  orators  of  all  active  opinions,  and 
of  all  the  democratic  clubs  of  Paris  and  the  faubourgs.  He 
received  at  his  house,  he  persuaded  and  enlisted,  the  principal 
leaders  of  the  great  populous  quarters  of  the  Bastille,  faubourg 
Saint  Marceau,  and  faubourg  Saint  Antoine.  He  often  passed 
entire  nights  in  discussing  freely  with  these  men  the  foreign 
and  domestic  situation  of  the  republic,  as  well  as  the  most  in- 
teresting questions  of  political  economy,  which  then  served  as 
a  text  for  the  discontent  or  excitement  of  the  people. 

He  sometimes  found  them  rebellious  ;  oftener  accessible  to  his 
counsels.  Yet  he  always  convinced  them  of  the  necessity  of 
not  rending  the  republic  by  civil  dissensions,  which  vould  ren- 
der abortive  all  ideas  of  social  progress  they  might  aim  at  for 
the  future,  of  combating  the  dictators  of  extreme  parties,  of 
calming  the  people,  and  of  submitting  to  their  own  sovereignty 
in  the  National  Assembly. 

These  men,  moved  by  the  sincere  and  often  impassioned 
language  of  Lamartine,  acted  with  loyalty  in  the  spirit  of  his 
wishes,  reserving  their  opinions  on  certain  texts  of  the  discus- 
sion, and  agreeing  with  him  upon  essential  points.  This  open- 
hearted  policy,  or  rather  these  constant  and  true-hearted  nego- 
tiations between  one  o:'  the  heads  of  government  and  the 
principal  heads  of  clubs,  prevented  misunderstanding,  revealed 
plots,  saved  Paris,  and  cleared  the  way  for  the  National  Assembly. 
This  was  therefore  the  conspiracy  of  honest  men,  against  that 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848. 


135 


of  the  perverse.  Lamartine  particularly  attached  himself  to 
young  men,  who  were  sincere  even  in  their  revolutionary'  exag- 
gerations. He  did  not  suffer  himself  to  be  scandalized  by  the 
names  which  then  inspired  the  greatest  prejudice  or  disgust  in 
Paris.  He  knew  that  the  reputation  of  a  man  is  often  an 
honest  calumny  of  those  who  only  know  him  by  name.  He 
believed  that  many  shadows  were-  dissipated  on  the  approach 
of  the  light  of  the  heart.  Besides,  no  repugnance  is  allowa- 
ble in  him  who  would  save  his  country. 

In  this  way  he  became  acquainted  with,  and  used,  without 
debasing  himself  or  degrading  them,  the  principal  agitators  of 
the  demagogical  clubs  of  the  Sorbonne,  where  forty  thousand 
proletaries  of  the  quarter  of  the  Pantheon  received  the  breath  of 
agitation;  —  many  of  the  delegates  of  the  working-men  of  the 
Luxembourg,  men  of  good  sense,  already  strongly  repelled  by 
the  industrial  and  economical  sophistries  of  Louis  Blanc  ;  —  a 
young  mulatto,  whom  the  crowd  followed  from  club  to  club,  by 
the  blaze  of  his  tropical  eloquence,  and  De  Flotte,  one  of  the 
most  faithful  adepts  of  Blanqui. 

This  young  mulatto,  Servien,  enthusiastic  and  persuasive  at 
the  tribune,  was  mild,  timid,  and  almost  silent,  in  private  life. 
He  confessed  to  Lamartine  that  he  had  more  passions  than 
ideas  on  these  social  questions,  with  which  he  crazed  his  audi- 
tors. Lamartine  imparted  to  him  the  fruits  of  his  own  studies, 
and  suggested  to  him  that  socialism  of  feeling,  which  produces 
the  union  of  the  different  classes  of  citizens,  without  stealing 
it  away  from  any  one  class.  Servien  breathed  peace  and 
conciliation  to  the  masses,  who  were  charmed  with  his  voice. 
Lamartine  afterwards  sent  him  to  his  brethren,  the  blacks,  to 
prepare  them  for  emancipation,  by  harmonizing  with  the  colo- 
nists. He  hoped  that  the  colonies  would  return  this  remarka- 
ble talent  to  the  Assembly. 

De  Flotte  was  a  young  officer  of  the  navy,  of  good  birth, 
studious,  and  honest,  but  too  fanatical  a  disciple  of  schools  for 
the  radical  renovation  of  society.  He  followed  Blanqui,  as 
the  most  radical  of  the  revolutionists,  but  he  influenced  his 
master  by  the  loftiness  of  his  intelligence.  Lamartine,  after 
having  thoroughly  measured  him,  found  in  his  heart  neither 
crime,  nor  vice,  nor  prejudice,  incompatible  with  the  conserva- 
tive and  progressive  social  order  which  a  well-inspired  repub- 
lic ought  to  guarantee.  He  felt  that  this  young  man,  who  was 
out  of  his  place  n  the  midst  of  factions,  might  be  rendered 
useful  by  the  republic.     He  determined  to  remember  him  when 


136 


HISTORY    OF   THE 


an  occasion  presented.  He  learned  afterwards  that  De  Flotte, 
though  a  stranger  to  the  insurrection  of  the  15th  of  May,  had 
been  arrested  on  the  ground  of  his  connection  with  Louis 
Blanc,  and  that  he  was  languishing  in  irons.  He  appealed  in 
his  behalf.  It  was  through  De  Flotte  that  Lamartine  signified 
to  Blanqui  that  he  would  receive  him  also  with  interest,  and 
perhaps  with  advantage  to  the  republic. 

XVIII. 

Blanqui  was  then  suspected,  both  by  the  government  and 
the  extreme  parties.  The  clubs,  that  he  ruled  by  his  violence 
and  talent,  envied  him.  The  partisans  of  the  dictatorship, 
who  saw  in  him  a  rival,  or  an  avenger,  feared  him.  They  did 
not  cease  to  point  him  out  to  the  public  as  the  only  dangerous 
man  of  faction,  that  they  might  the  better  conceal  their  faction 
behind  his.  Blanqui,  on  his  part,  detested  these  men,  because 
they  had  endeavored  to  dishonor  him.  He  kept  aloof  from 
them.  He  studied  to  go  beyond  them  in  radicalism,  that  he 
might  distance  them  in  popularity.  He  called  them  ambitious 
and  deceivers  of  the  people.  The  echo  of  his  voice  made 
them  tremble  every  evening.  They  knew  that  Blanqui  was 
surrounded  by  a  few  fanatics,  capable  of  avenging  their  master 
by  steel  and  fire.  This  evil  renown  of  Blanqui  was  a  phan- 
tom ever  standing  between  them  and  their  ambition.  They 
never  ceased  to  expatiate,  in  the  most  menacing  rumors,  on  the 
plots  of  Blanqui  and  his  party.  The  very  men  who  circulated 
these  stories  put  little  faith  in  them.  He  was  a  Catiline  of 
the  imagination.  At  one  time  he  was  to  besiege  the  govern- 
ment in  the  Luxembourg,  and  seize  them  in  the  night-time  to 
carry  them  to  Vincennes;  at  another,  he  was  going  to  burn 
Paris,  and  profit  by  the  tumult  to  proclaim  his  tyranny. in  the 
name  of  the  people.  Again,  he  was  going,  with  a  few  accom- 
plices, to  surprise  the  Hotel  of  Foreign  AflTairs,  and  assassinate 
Lamartine.  The  credulous  people  whispered  these  reports. 
Lamartine  did  not  credit  them.  He  was,  doubtless,  afflicted 
at  the  verbal  scandals  of  this  little  faction  ;  but  he  was  not  dis- 
turbed at  the  accusations  of  treason,  and  threats  of  death, 
which  rang  nightly  through  this  club.  He  knew  that  the  dan- 
ger to  the  government  and  France  lay  in  less  unpopular  fac- 
tions. He  was  even  not  sorry  that  the  really  impotent  faction 
of  this  loud-voiced  conspirator  should  counterbalance  and  in- 
timidate other  factions,  in  other  clubs  and  other  parties.     He 


L 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  137 

had  many  times  opposed  the  arrest  of  Blanqui,  by  CaussiditTe, 
without  his  colleagues  being  able  to  understand  his  motives. 

The  imagination  of  the  public  was  excited  even  to  terror  by 
this  notoriety,  when,  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  a  day  in 
the  latter  part  of  March,  or  the  early  days  of  April,  a  man  of 
almost  indigent  appearance,  accompanied  by  two  or  three  other 
men  of  unknown  and  suspicious  look,  entered  the  court-yard  of 
the  ministry  of  foreign  affairs,  gave  his  name,  and  asked  to  speak 
with  the  minister.  Lamartine  had  just  risen.  The  weather 
was  hot.  He  was  working,  half-dressed,  in  his  chamber.  He 
gave  orders  to  have  Blanqui  show^n  in,  and  advancing  towards 
him,  with  his  breast  uncovered,  he  extended  his  hand  to  him. 

"  Well,  Monsieur  Blanqui,"  said  he,  smiling,  "you  have  come 
to  assassinate  me.  The  time  is  favorable,  and  the  opportunity 
excellent.     You  see  I  wear  no  cuirass." 

Then  making  Blanqui  sit  down  opposite  him,  he  said  :  "  Let 
us  talk  seriously,  I  wished  to  see  you,  and  you  have  consented 
to  hold  an  interview  with  me.  This  is  a  sign  that  our  ideas 
on  the  republic  are  not,  perhaps,  as  irreconcilable  as  appear- 
ances induce  the  vulgar  to  think.  Let  us  talk  it  over  thor- 
oughly. I  am  going  to  disclose  to  you  all  my  thoughts  un- 
veiled, like  a  man  who  has  nothing  to  conceal,  even  from  his 
enemies.  You  will  see  whether  my  political  horizon  is  broad 
and  luminous  enough  to  afford  all  the  friends  of  democracy 
room  for  their  legitimate  action,  and  satisfaction  for  their  legiti- 
mate ambition  pf  progress.  You  will  interrupt  me  when  ob- 
jections occur  to  your  mind,  and  I  will  explain  what  may  seem 
to  you  obscure." 

Lamartine  then  developed  to  Blanqui  the  idea  of  such  a  re- 
public as  he  thought  proper  for  a  continental  nation,  bent  for  a 
long  time  to  the  monarchical  yoke,  and  in  which  problems  of  so- 
cialism arising  from  industry,  luxury  and  misery',  had  been  for 
fifteen  years  agitating  the  subterranean  strata  of  society.  He 
showed  the  guaranties  to  be  given  to  property,  and  the  aid  tc 
be  bestowed  by  institutions  on  proletaries.  He  went  to  the 
extent  of  his  idea,  but  not  beyond  the  limits  of  good  sense  and 
applicability.  His  conclusion  was,  a  very  strong  government, 
the  expression  of  the  national  will,  coming  from  the  whole 
people,  and  hence  irresistible.  He  demonstrated  the  danger  of 
war  to  the  democratic  idea,  as  well  as  to  French  nationality. 
He  declared  himself  the  inflexible  enemy  of  every  faction 
which  wished  to  monopolize  power  by  dictatorships,  to  stain  it 
with  blood  by  conventions,  and  to  dismember  it  by  anarchy 

VOL.  n.  12* 


138  HISTORY    OF    THE 

He  professed  the  absolute  dogma  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  sin- 
cere majority  of  the  nation  over  the  tyranny  of  one  class,  even 
should  that  class  usurp  the  name  of  the  people.  He  acknowl- 
edged his  hatred  against  the  ambitious  corrupters  of  this  peo- 
ple, and  pity  for  the  sophists  who,  by  intoxicating  them  with 
radical  chimeras,  prepared  for  them  the  awakening  of  despair. 

Blanqui  had  not  interrupted  him  once.  His  ascetic  and 
flexible  face  listened  in  every  feature.  His  deep  and  introverted 
eye  seemed  to  penetrate  to  the  bottom  of  his  interlocutor's 
heart,  to  seek  there  for  an  intention  to  seduce  or  mislead.  He 
was  too  experienced  not  to  see  that  the  attitude,  language 
and  gestures  of  Lamartine,  were  radiant  with  sincerity.  He 
made  no  fundamental  objection  to  the  ideas  which  he  had  just 
heard.  He  spoke  with  ironical  disdain  of  the  men  who  Avere 
then  pretending  to  be  the  prophets  of  socialism  and  terrorism. 
He  admitted  their  theories  to  be  theories  or  tendencies,  and 
acknowledged  that  they  could  have  no  immediate  realiza- 
tion, beyond  the  guarantee  of  property  and  acquired  rights. 

As  for  the  government,  he  acknowledged  the  necessity  and 
conditions  of  force  against  anarchy.  He  granted  to  Lamartine 
readily  that  it  was  necessary  to  discourage  the  ambitious  and 
turbulent  partisans  of  a  dictatorship,  by  adhering  to  the  convo- 
cation of  the  National  Assembly.  He  did  not  hesitate,  in  fact, 
to  speak  in  this  sense  to  his  club,  and  to  compel  those  factions 
who  had  begun  to  protest  against  the  elections  to  retrace  their 
steps. 

Lamartine,  after  this  political  dialogue,  in  which  he  had 
obtained  all  he  wished,  that  is  to  say,  a  concert  for  the  convo- 
cation of  the  Assembly,  and  the  promise  of  opposing  dictatorial 
attempts,  made  the  conversation  fall  into  a  familiar  channel. 
Blanqui  seemed  to  abandon  himself  to  it  with  the  effusion  of 
a  heart  ulcerated  and  closed  by  persecution,  which  opens  and 
expands  in  a  chance  intimacy.  He  told  Lamartine  the  story 
of  his  life,  which  had  been  only  one  long  conspiracy  against 
governments  ;  his  love  for  a  woman,  whom  his  captivity  could 
not  detach  from  him,  and  whom  his  misfortunes  had  killed ; 
his  long  imprisonments,  his  solitary'  reflections,  his  aspirations 
towards  God,  and  his  instinctive  repugnance  to  blood  ;  but  his 
almost  insurmountable  taste  for  plots,  a  sort  of  second  nature, 
contracted  in  his  first  conspiracies.  He  was  plain,  natural, 
high-toned,  and  sometimes  pathetic.  Lamartine  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  recognize  in  this  conspirator  all  the  aptitude  and  tact  of 
a  man  born  for  negotiation,  if  he  would  ever  be  willing  to  bend 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  139 

his  independence  to  the  yoke  of  a  government.  He  asked  him 
if  he  would  consent  to  serve  a  republic  according  to  his  views, 
at  home  or  abroad ;  if  this  part  of  eternal  censor  and  eternal 
aggressor  on  the  institutions  of  his  country  did  not  seem  to  him 
onerous,  sterile,  ungrateful,  and  injurious  to  the  republic  itself. 
Blanqui  allowed  it,  and  did  not  even  seem  averse  to  the  idea  of 
serving  abroad  a  government  whose  ministers  he  should  honor, 
and  whose  views  he  should  share.  Blanqui  and  the  member 
of  government  parted,  after  an  interview  of  several  hours,  ap- 
parently satisfied  with  each  other,  and  ready  to  meet  again,  if 
circumstances  should  revive  the  necessity  of  other  interviews. 

XIX. 

Lamartine,  from  this  day,  did  not  cease  to  hold  disinterested 
and  honorable  relations  with  the  heart  of  the  diflferent  parties 
who  were  contending  for  the  direction  of  the  people.  His  mind 
constantly  exerted  its  influence  for  one  object,  —  the  convoca- 
tion and  acceptance  of  the  National  Assembly  by  the  people  of 
Paris. 

Sure  of  the  cooperation  of  the  principal  leaders  of  faction 
for  this  purpose,  he  had  only,  in  conjunction  with  his  colleagues, 
to  watch  over  the  seditious  manifestations  which  might  inop- 
portunely submerge  or  sweep  away  the  government. 

The  danger  was  hourly.  The  Guard  Mobile,  as  yet,  num- 
bered only  a  few  battalions,  without  uniform.  The  delegates 
of  the  Luxembourg  regarded  this  establishment  with  reluctance, 
and  made  a  thousand  delays  in  equipping  these  young  soldiers. 
General  Duvivier  was  naturally  impatient  at  these  delays,  and 
maintained  his  troops  in  resignation  and  service  only  by 
means  of  encouragement  and  care.  The  National  Guard, 
under  the  direction  of  its  general  and  leader  of  the  staff,  Gui- 
nard,  organized,  clothed,  and  arnied  themselves,  to  the  number 
of  ninety  thousand  men.  They  were  soon  going  to  choose 
officers,  but  so  far  they  only  existed  in  the  form  of  an  idea. 
The  government  was  very  properly  unwilling  to  muster  them 
before  they  v/ere  provided  with  unifonns,  for  fear  that  the  con- 
trast between  the  indigence  of  some  and  the  military  splendor  of 
others  might  create  an  aristocratic  division  where  they  were 
desirous  of  establishing  the  unity  of  heart  and  hand.  The 
foreign  refugees  in  Paris  increased  in  number  and  audacity. 
They  assumed  to  control  the  will  of  government,  and  take  war  by 
force  into  their  hands,  in  order  to  carry  it  to  their  different  terri- 


140  HISTORY    OF    THE 

tories,  by  dragging  the  French  flag  into  them.  The  Belgians 
besieged  the  minister  of  foreign  affliirs  and  the  minister  of  the 
interior.  The  government  was  inflexibly  resolved  to  refuse 
them  an  assistance  which  would  have  been  as  impolitic  as  dis- 
honest, but  they  had  only  moral  authority  to  oppose  to  their 
enrolments  and  projects  of  invasion. 

The  minister  of  foreign  affairs  had  already  frequently  broken 
up  their  plots,  and  induced  the  Prince  de  Ligne  to  make  them 
return  to  their  country.  Some  hundreds  of  them,  in  fact,  set 
out  from  Paris ;  but  two  or  three  thousand  remained  both  in 
Paris  and  the  department  of  the  north.  It  appeared  that,  worn 
out  by  their  entreaties  and  reproaches,  a  few  men  attached  to 
the  government,  but  without  its  knowledge,  and  even  under  its 
disavowal,  through  good  nature  and  almost  complicity,  had  fos- 
tered the  passions  of  these  refugees,  had  furnished  them  with 
means  of  transportation,  and  had  prepared  gun-carriages  for 
them  on  the  extreme  frontier  of  France.  On  reaching  Lille, 
the  Belgian  column  demanded  arms  of  General  Negrier.  Ne- 
grier,  who  had  been  cautioned  by  Lamartine,  refused  them 
arms.  While  this  was  passing  in  Lille,  Lamartine,  informed 
of  the  plot,  wrote  officially  to  the  minister  of  the  interior  to  in- 
duce him  to  oppose  the  arming  and  invasion  of  the  Belgians  by 
means  of  all  his  agents. 

The  minister  of  the  interior  obeyed  this  request  by  sending, 
in  fact,  orders  to  this  effect  to  the  frontier. 

The  government  commissary  at  Lille,  who  at  first  thought, 
perhaps,  that  he  was  acting  agreeably  to  the  views  of  the  gov- 
ernment in  favoring  the  arming  of  the  refugees,  retraced  his 
steps.  He  made  tardy  efforts  to  render  the  return  of  the  Bel- 
gians to  their  territory  inoffensive.  The  Belgians,  who  saw 
three  pupils  of  the  Polytechnic  School  among  them,  and  re- 
ceived from  them  wagons  of  muskets,  believed  in  the  complic- 
ity of  the  govermnent.  Entering  with  arms  in  their  hands 
upon  their  native  soil,  they  were  received  by  a  volley  from  the 
royal  troops,  and  fell  back  into  France,  shouting  treason  !  This 
cry  reached  Paris,  and  roused  up  the  Germans,  the  Poles,  and 
the  clubs.  This  is  what  is  called  the  invasion  of  Risquons- 
Tout,  the  name  of  the  village  where  the  conflict  took  plara. 
But  there  was  no  treason  in  this  affair,  although  there  was 
some  understanding  between  certain  democrats  of  Paris  and  the 
Belgian  refugees.  Counter-orders,  firmly  issued  by  the  govern- 
ment, had  revoked  orders  given  by  secret  agents.  Foreign 
powers   complained   with   reason,  but   moderation,  and  were 


==i) 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  141 

forced  to  acknowledge  the  good  faith,  and  even  the  repressive 
vi^or,  of  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs. 

XX. 

The  same  attempts  at  mustering  on  French  soil  were  made 
at  Strasburg,  and  on  the  borders  of  the  Rhine,  notwithstanding 
the  constant  resistance  of  the  French  government.  Finally,  an 
expedition  of  Savoyard  volunteers  set  out  from  Lyons,  passed 
the  Rhone,  advanced  upon  Chambtry,  seized  it  by  sui-]irise,  and 
were  expelled  the  next  morning  by  a  spontaneous  insurrection 
of  the  mountaineers.  M.  Emmanuel  Arago,  who  with  diffi- 
culty ruled  the  industrial  anarchy  of  Lyons,  wrote  to  Lamar- 
tine  to  inform  him  of  the  plot  he  was  opposing,  without  being 
able  to  repress  it.  M.  Ledru  Rollin,  on  the  information  of  the 
minister  of  foreign  affairs,  sent  commissaries  and  orders  to  dis- 
perse this  concourse.  Lamartine  proposed  the  help  of  the 
army  of  the  Alps  to  reestablish  order  at  Chambery,  and  to 
repress  the  attempts  of  the  refugees  and  French  on  a  nation- 
ality of  Savoy.  The  government  was  as  much  a  stranger  to 
this  violation  as  the  preceding  government  had  been  to  the 
irruption  of  the  Italiaiis  into  Savoy.  They  published  a  procla- 
mation, by  which  they  drove  all  the  refugees  away  from  the 
frontiers.  Lamartine  and  the  minister  of  the  interior  had  an 
understanding  to  effect  this  dissolution  of  riotous  gatherings. 
Considerable  sums  were  employed  by  M.  Flocon  to  succor, 
remove,  disperse,  and  send  home,  these  thousands  of  refugees. 

XXL 

But  the  most  active  remained  in  Paris.  These  were  the 
Poles.  The  Poles  are  the  leaven  of  Europe.  As  brave  on  the 
field  of  battle  as  they  are  turbulent  on  the  public  square,  they 
form  the  revolutionary  army  of  the  continent.  They  are  always 
at  home,  provided  they  can  agitate.  They  agitated  Paris,  an'^ 
threatened  the  government.  Acclimated  by  national  hospital- 
ity, sustained  by  French  committees,  provided  with  indefatigable 
protectors,  such  as  MM.  Montalembert  and  Vavin,  always  ready 
to  present  their  claims  to  power,  they  created  one  of  the  most 
serious  difficulties  of  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs.  Polish 
brigades,  in  the  pay  af  France,  had  been  opened  to  them ;  this 
was  going  as  far  as  the  right  of  nations  would  allow.  To 
declare  war  fci  them  against  Prussia,  Austria,  and  Russia,  was  a 


142  HISTORY   OF   THE 

crusade  to  conquer  a  sepulchre.  To  refuse  themwas  to  subject 
the  government  to  unpopularity  and  seditions  in  their  favor. 
They  had  their  votes  in  all  the  clubs,  their  shout  in  all  excite- 
ments, their  hands  in  all  the  gatherings.  They  openly  recruited 
sympathies  in  the  national  v^rorkshops.  They  audaciously  an- 
nounced Polish  manifestations  to  intimidate  the  government. 
The  sensible  men  of  their  nation  in  vain  sought  to  restrain 
them.  French  demagogues  employed  the  name  of  Poland  to 
produce  an  explosion  in  France.  Lamartine,  who  attentively 
watched  over  their  movements,  was  indignant  in  finding  more 
trouble  in  controlling  these  guests  of  France  than  France 
herself. 

One  evening,  when  he  had  returned  home  harassed  with  his 
daily  struggles  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  was  counting  on  the 
enjoyment  of  a  few  hours  of  sleep,  so  rare  to  him  at  that  time,  a 
large  deputation  of  Poles,  from  some  democratic  club  or  other, 
which  pretended  to  represent  all  Poland,  was  announced  to  him. 
This  was  the  assumption  of  each  one  of  five  or  six  Polish  parties, 
anarchists  on  foreign  soil,  and  hostile  to  each  other.  They  ranged 
themselves  in  two  groups  opposite  the  minister  in  the  cabinet  of 
foreign  affairs.  One  of  their  orators  spoke  in  an  appropriate 
manner,  although  in  too  imperious  a  tone  for  a  colony  of  strang- 
ers. Lamartine  was  about  to  reply  with  the  consideration  due  to 
expatriation  and  misfortune,  when  shouts  from  the  other  group 
protested  against  the  moderation  of  the  first. 

Another  orator,  issuing  with  fren5:ied  gesticulations  from  the 
circle  of  malecontents,  insolently  apostrophized  the  riiinister,  and 
the  nation  as  represented  in  his  person.  He  delivered  a  sedi- 
tious discourse,  which  he  wound  up  by  informing  Lamartine 
that  the  Poles  had  more  authority  over  Paris  than  he  had  ;  that 
they  would  reckon  with  the  government  itself ;  that  they  had 
forty  thousand  men  of  the  national  workshops  enrolled  to  join 
them  on  the  next  day,  and  march  in  a  body  on  the  Hotel  de 
Ville ;  and  that  if  the  government  would  not  yield  to  them, 
they  were  strong  enough  to  overthrow  and  change  it. 

At  these  words,  menaces,  and  insults,  offered  to  the  liberty 
of  the  government  and  dignity  of  the  nation,  Lamartine,  irri- 
tated, accepted  the  challenge,  and  closed  by  saying,  that  if  France 
suffered  her  government  to  be  overthrown  by  a  handful  of 
foreigners  who  wished  to  make  her  laws,  then  France  would 
be  degraded  bolow  the  level  of  nations  who  have  no  country. 

The  quarrel  became  animated,  words  grew  warm  and  faces 
heated.     The  first  group  tried  to  make  the  second  listen  to 


REVOLUTION   OF    1843. 


143 


reason,  without  success.  Finally,  the  sensible  men  of  the  nation, 
who  found  themselves  in  a  majority,  interposed,  calmed  the 
factious  orator,  and  ended  by  extorting  apologies  from  him. 
They  adjourned  the  next  morning  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  The 
minister,  on  dismissing  them,  said,  that  if  their  deputation  should 
degenerate  into  a  manifestation,  and  if  they  brought  a  single 
Frenchman  in  their  train,  he  would  no  longer  treat  them  as 
guests,  but  as  disturbers  of  France. 

XXII. 

The  next  morning,  in  fact,  they  presented  themselves  in  a 
large  column,  but  with  a  decent  and  calm  bearing,  on  the  place 
de  Greve.  France  and  Europe  waited  with  anxiety  for  the 
reply  Lamartine  should  make  them  ;  for  this  reply  would  con- 
tain peace  or  war  for  the  entire  continent.  He  spoke  to  them  in 
these  terms,  as  reported  by  the  stenographers  of  the  Moniteur  : 

"  Poles  : 

"The  French  republic  receives  as  a  happy  augury  the 
homage  of  your  adhesion  and  gratitude  for  its  hospitality.  I 
have  no  need  of  telling  you  its  sentiments  for  the  sons  of 
Poland.  The  voice  of  France  proclaimed  it  to  you  each  year, 
even  when  that  voice  was  repressed  by  monarchy.  The 
republic  has  a  voice  and  gesture  yet  freer  and  more  sympathiz- 
ing. It  will  reiterate  to  you  these  fraternal  sentiments  ;  it  will 
prove  them  to  you  in  every  form  compatible  with  the  policy  of 
justice,  moderation,  and  peace,  which  it  has  proclaimed  to  all 
the  world. 

"  Yes,  since  your  last  disasters,  since  the  sword  has  effaced 
from  the  map  of  nations  these  last  protestations  of  your  exist- 
ence as  a  vestige  and  a  germ  of  a  nation,  Poland  has  not  only 
been  a  reproach,  she  has  been  a  living  remorse  standing  in  the 
midst  of  Europe.  France  owes  you  not  only  wishes  and  tears, 
she  owes  you  a  moral  and  contingent  support  in  return  for  that 
Polish  blood  you  poured  out  during  our  great  wars  on  all  the 
battle-fields  of  Europe. 

"  France  will  repay  what  she  owes  you,  be  assured  ;  and  rely 
for  it  on  the  hearts  of  thirty-six  millions  of  Frenchmen.  Only 
leave  France  what  belongs  to  her  exclusively ;  the  hour,  the 
moment,  the  form,  of  which  Providence  shall  determine  the 
choice  and  opportunity,  to  restore  to  you,  without  agression  and 
without  spilling  human  blood,  the  place  which  is  due  to  you  in 
the  sunlight  and  on  the  catalogue  of  nations. 


144  HISTORY    OF   THE 

"  You  know  the  principles  which  the  provisional  govern- 
ment has  invariably  adopted  in  its  foreign  policy.  If  you  know 
them  not,  they  are  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  republic  is  republican,  no  doubt.  She  proclaims  it 
loudly  to  the  world.  But  the  republic  is  neither  secretly  nor 
openly  at  war  with  any  of  the  existing  governments,  so  long 
as  those  nations  and  governments  do  not  declare  themselves 
at  war  with  us.  Therefore  it  will  neither  commit  nor  per- 
mit voluntarily  any  act  of  aggression  and  violence  against  the 
Germanic  nations.  These  nations  are  of  their  own  accord 
laboring  at  this  moment  to  modify  their  interior  system  of  con- 
federation, and  to  establish  the  unity  and  the  rights  of  the 
nations  who  have  a  place  to  claim  in  their  bosom.  It  would 
require  either  a  madman  or  a  traitor  to  the  liberty  of  the  world 
to  disturb  them  in  this  task  by  warlike  demonstrations,  and  to 
change  into  hostility,  susceptibility,  or  hate,  the  liberating  ten- 
dency which  impels  their  hearts  towards  you  and  towards  us. 

"  And  what  a  moment  do  you  ask  us  to  choose  for  this  oppo- 
sition to  the  rights  of  policy  and  freedom  !  Does  the  treaty  of 
Pilnitz  chance  to  militate  against  us?  Does  the  coalition  of 
absolute  sovereigns  collect  and  arm  vipon  our  frontiers  and 
yours  ?  No  ;  you  see  it !  Every  courier  brings  us  a  victorious 
acclamation  of  nations,  who  embrace  our  principle  and  strengthen 
our  cause  precisely  because  we  have  declared  that  this  principle 
was  respect  for  rights,  for  the  will  and  territorial  forms  of  gov- 
ernment of  all  nations.  Are,  then,  the  external  results  of  the 
policy  of  the  provisional  government  so  bad  that  we  must  be 
forced  to  change  them,  and  to  present  ourselves  on  the  frontiers 
of  our  neighbors  with  bayonet  in  hand,  instead  of  peace  and 
liberty  ? 

"  No  ;  this  policy,  at  once  firm  and  pacific,  succeeds  too  well 
for  the  republic  for  her  to  wish  to  change  it,  before  these  powers 
shall  change  it  themselves.  Look  at  Belgium ;  look  at  Swit- 
zerland ;  look  at  Italy ;  look  at  the  whole  of  southern  Ger- 
many; look  at  Vienna;  look  at  Berlin;  —  w^hat  would  you 
have  more  ?  The  verj^  possessors  of  your  territories  are  open- 
ing the  road  to  your  country,  and  call  on  you  peacefully  to  lay 
the  first  foundations  of  it.  Be  not  unjust  either  to  God,  the 
republic,  or  us.  The  sympathizing  nation  of  Germany ;  the 
King  of  Prussia  opening  the  gates  of  his  citadels  to  you,  martyrs 
and  exiles;  Cracow  freed;  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Posen  again 
become  Polish  ;  — these  are  the  arms  we  have  given  you  by  one 
month's  policy. 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  145 

"  Do  not  ask  us  for  others.  The  provisional  government 
will  not  suffer  the  policy  it  holds  to  be  changed  by  a  foreign 
nation,  however  fully  it  commands  the  sympathies  of  our  hearts. 
We  love  Poland,  we  love  Italy,  we  love  all  oppressed  nations,  — 
but,  above  all,  we  love  France,  and  we  hold  the  responsibility 
of  her  destinies,  and  perhaps  those  of  Europe,  in  our  hands  at 
this  moment. 

"  This  responsibility  we  will  yield  to  none  but  the  nation  itself. 
Trust  in  it ;  trust  in  the  future  ;  trust  in  the  past  twenty  days, 
which  have  already  given  to  the  cause  of  French  democracy 
more  ground  than  twenty  pitched  battles  ;  and  disturb  neither  by 
arms  nor  by  an  agitation  which  would  recoil  upon  our  common 
cause,  the  work  which  Providence  is  accomplishing,  with  no 
other  anns  than  ideas,  for  the  regeneration  of  nations  and  the 
fraternity  of  the  human  race. 

"  You  have  spoken  admirably  as  Poles.  As  for  us,  our  duty 
is,  like  you,  to  speak  as  Frenchmen.  "We  should  both  adhere 
to  our  respective  characters.  As  Poles,  you  should  be  justly 
impatient  to  fly  to  the  soil  of  your  fathers,  and  respond  to  the 
appeal  which  a  portion  of  Poland,  already  free,  makes  to  her 
generous  children.  We  can  only  applaud  this  sentiment,  and 
furnish  you,  as  you  desire,  with  the  means  of  reentering  your 
country,  and  rejoicing  at  the  commencement  of  her  independence 
at  Posen. 

"  As  for  ourselves,  as  Frenchmen  we  have  not  only  Poland  to 
consider,  but  we  have  the  universality  of  European  policy, 
which  corresponds  to  all  the  horizons  of  France,  and  all  the 
interests  of  liberty,  of  which  the  French  republic  is  the  support, 
and  we  hope  for  its  most  glorious  and  final  explosion  in  Europe. 
The  importance  of  these  interests,  the  gravity  of  these  resolu- 
tions, prevent  the  provisional  government  from  resigning  into 
the  hands  of  any  partial  nationality,  any  party  in  a  nation, 
however  sacred  be  the  cause  of  that  nation,  the  responsibility 
and  the  liberty  of  its  resolves. 

"  The  policy  towards  Poland  which  was  commanded  to  us 
by  the  monarchy  is  no  longer  the  policy  commanded  to  us  by 
the  republic.  The  latter  has  held  a  language  to  the  world  to 
which  she  would  be  faithful.  She  would  have  no  power  on  the 
earth  say  to  her :    '  Your  words  are  here  ;  your  actions  there.' 

"  The  republic  must  not  and  will  not  have  acts  in  contradic- 
tion with  her  words;  respect  for  her  word  is  at  this  cost;  she 
will  never  discredit  it  by  failure.  What  did  she  say  in  her 
manifesto  to  the  powers  ?     She  said  it  with  a  thought  of  you. 

VOL.  II.  13 


146  HISTORY   OF   THE 

The  day  on  which  it  shall  appear  that  the  providential  hour 
has  struck  for  the  resurrection  of  a  nationality  unjustly  obliter- 
ated, we  will  fly  to  your  aid  ;  but  we  have  justly  reserved  to 
ourselves  what  belongs  to  France  alone  —  the  recognition  of  the 
hour,  the  moment,  the  justice  of  the  cause  and  the  means  by 
which  it  shall  suit  us  to  interfere. 

"  Well !  thus  far  we  have  chosen  and  decreed  these  means 
to  be  pacific ;  and,  believe  me,  France  and  Europe  will  see 
whether  those  pacific  measures  have  deceived  us,  or  whether 
you  have  deceived  yourselves. 

"  In  thirty-one  days  the  natural  and  pacific  results  of  this 
system  of  peace  and  fraternity,  declared  to  nations  and  govern- 
ments, have  been  worth  more  to  the  cause  of  France,  and  the 
liberty  of  Poland  herself,  than  ten  pitched  battles  and  torrents 
of  human  blood. 

"Vienna,  Berlin,  Italy,  Genoa,  Southern  Germany,  and 
Munich,  —  all  these  constitutions,  all  these  spontaneous,  not 
forced,  explosions  in  the  hearts  of  nations,  —  your  own  frontiers 
finally  opened  to  your  steps  through  the  acclamations  of  Germany, 
which  is  renewing  herself  in  her  forms,  under  the  inviolabil- 
ity with  which  we  surround  her  governments  and  territories ;  — 
these  are  the  steps  the  republic  has  taken,  thanks  to  this  sys- 
tem of  respect  for  the  freedom  of  soil  and  the  life  of  men  !  We 
will  not  recede  a  step  into  another  system  —  mark  it  well !  The 
straightest  road  leads  us  to  the  disinterested  object  we  have  in 
view,  better  than  the  tortuous  paths  of  diplomacy.  Do  not 
attempt  to  make  us  deviate  from  it. 

"  There  is  something  which  restrains  and  enlightens  even 
our  passions  for  Poland  ;  it  is  our  reason.  Let  us  listen  to  it 
in  the  complete  liberty  of  our  thoughts,  and  know  that  these 
thoughts  will  not  separate  two  nations  whose  blood  has  been  so 
often  mingled  on  the  fields  of  battle. 

"  Our  solicitude  for  you  will  extend,  like  our  hospitality,  as 
far  as  our  frontiers.  Our  eyes  will  follow  you  into  your  coun- 
try. Carry  thither  the  hope  of  regeneration  which  has  been 
begun  for  you  in  Prussia  herself,  where  your  flag  is  floating  at 
Berlin.  France  asks  no  other  price  for  the  asylum  she  has 
given  you  than  the  amelioration  of  your  national  destinies  and 
the  reminiscences  of  the  French  name  you  will  bear  away. 

"  Forget  not  that  it  is  to  the  republic  you  owe  the  first  steps 
you  are  going  to  take  in  the  direction  of  your  country." 

This  discourse  satisfied  Europe,  and  bridled  the  audacity  of 
the  refugees. 


REVOLtJTION   OF   1848.  147 


xxm. 


England  did  not  wait  Avith  less  solicitude  for  the  reception 
Lamartine  would  give  the  Irish  insurgents,  who  had  set  out 
from  Dublin  to  come  and  demand  encouragement  and  arms  of 
the  French  republic.  The  old  national  hatred  between  France 
and  England  favored  their  cause;  the  party  of  the  demagogues, 
the  military  and  the  Catholic  party,  united  in  France  in  con- 
sidering the  Irish  insurrection  the  cause  of  liberty,  the  church, 
and  France.  Lamartine  was  not  blind  to  the  clamors  these 
three  parties  would  raise  against  him,  if  he  dared  refuse  the  aid 
of  the  republic  to  a  civil  war  against  England.  He  dared  to 
do  so  nevertheless,  resting  on  the  loyalty  of  the  republic.  He 
did  not  consider  all  weapons  fair  to  fight  with  against  a  rival 
but  friendly  power,  with  which  he  wished  to  strengthen  the  ties 
of  liberated  France. 

"  Citizens  of  Ireland,"  he  replied  to  them,  "  if  we  required 
another  proof  of  the  pacific  influence  of  the  proclamation  of  the 
great  democratic  principle, — this  new  Christianity,  bursting 
forth  at  the  opportune  hour,  and  dividing  the  world,  as  for- 
merly, into  a  pagan  world  and  a  Christian  world,  —  we  should 
find  this  proof  of  the  all-powerful  action  of  an  idea  in  the  visits 
which  nations,  or  fractions  of  nations,  come  to  make  here  spon- 
taneously to  republican  France  and  to  her  principle. 

"  We  are  not  astonished  to  see  to-day  a  part  of  Ireland ; 
Ireland  knows  how  much  her  destinies,  her  sufferings,  and  her 
successive  advancements  in  religious  liberty,  in  unity  and  con- 
stitutional equality  with  the  other  parties  of  the  united  king- 
dom, have  moved  in  all  time  the  heart  of  Europe.  We  said  it 
a  few  days  since  to  another  deputation  of  your  fellow-citizens ; 
we  will  say  it  to  all  the  children  of  this  glorious  island  of  Erin, 
which,  by  the  natural  genius  of  its  inhabitants  as  well  as  the 
vicissitudes  of  its  history,  is  at  once  the  poetry  and  heroism 
of  the  nations  of  the  north. 

"  Understand,  then,  clearly,  that  you  will  find  in  France,  under 
the  republic,  all  the  sentiments  you  bring  it.  Tell  your  fellow- 
citizens  that  the  name  of  Ireland  and  the  name  of  liberty  cour- 
ageously defended  against  privilege,  is  the  same  name  for  every 
French  citizen.  Tell  them  that  this  reciprocity  which  they 
invoke,  this  hospitality  they  remember,  the  republic  will  always 
be  proud  to  remember  and  practise  toward  the  Irish.  Tell 
them,  above  all,  that  the  French  republic  is  not  and  will  not  be 
an  aristocratic  republic,  where  liberty  is  a  mask  for  privilege, 


148  HISTORY   OF   THE 

but  a  republic  embracing  the  entire  people  in  the  same  rights 
and  the  same  blessings. 

"  As  for  other  encouragement,  it  would  not  be  fitting  for  us 
to  give,  or  you  to  receive  it.  I  have  already  said  it  with  regard 
to  Switzerland,  Germany,  Belgium,  and  Italy.  I  repeat  it  with 
regard  to  every  nation  which  has  domestic  questions  to  settle 
with  itself  or  with  its  government.  When  our  blood  does  not 
run  in  the  veins  of  a  people,  we  are  not  permitted  to  employ 
our  intervention  or  our  hands  in  its  affairs.  We  belong  to  no 
party,  in  Ireland  or  elsewhere,  but  to  the  party  of  justice,  liberty, 
and  the  happiness  of  nations.  No  other  part  would  oe  accept- 
able to  us,  in  time  of  peace,  in  the  interests  and  passions  of 
foreign  nations.  France  would  reserve  herself  free  for  all 
rights. 

"  We  are  at  peace,  and  we  desire  to  remain  in  sound  relations 
of  equality,  not  with  such  or  such  a  party  in  Great  Britain,  but 
with  the  whole  of  Great  Britain.  We  believe  this  peace  useful 
and  honorable,  not  only  to  Great  Britain  and  the  French  repub- 
lic, but  the  whole  human  race.  We  will  commit  no  act,  we 
will  utter  no  word,  we  will  give  forth  no  insinuation,  in  contra- 
diction to  the  principles  of  the  mutual  inviolability  of  nations 
which  we  have  proclaimed,  and  the  fruits  of  which  the  conti- 
nent already  reaps.  The  fallen  monarchy  had  treaties  and 
diplomatic  agents.  We  have  nations  in  the  place  of  diploma- 
tists, and  sympathies  for  treaties.  We  should  be  insane,  to 
change  such  a  noonday  policy  for  dark  and  partial  alliances 
with  parties,  even  legitimate  ones,  in  the  countries  which  sur- 
round us.  We  have  not  the  means  either  of  judging  or  prefer- 
ring some  to  others.  In  declaring  us  friends  of  these,  we  should 
declare  us  enemies  of  those.  We  would  not  be  the  enemies 
of  any  of  your  fellow-citizens.  On  the  contrary,  we  would 
destroy,  by  the  loyalty  of  our  republican  language,  the  prepos- 
sessions and  prejudices  which  have  existed  between  our  neigh- 
bors and  ourselves. 

•'  This  conduct  is  suggested  to  us,  however  painful  it  may 
appear  to  you,  by  the  right  of  nations  as  well  as  by  our  histori- 
cal recollections. 

"  Do  you  know  what  most  irritated  and  severed  France  and 
England  during  the  last  republic  ?  It  was  civil  war,  recognized, 
paid  and  employed,  by  Mr.  Pitt,  in  a  part  of  our  territory.  It 
was  the  encouragement  and  arms  given  to  Frenchmen  as  heroic 
as  you,  in  La  Vendee,  but  Frenchmen  fighting  against  other 
Frenchmen.     It  was  not  a  loyal  war ;  it  was  royalist  propa- 


REVOLUTION   OP    1848.  149 

gandism  waged  with  French  blood  against  the  republic.  This 
conduct  is  not  yet,  in  spite  of  our  efforts,  entirely  effaced  from 
the  memory  of  the  nation. 

"  Well,  we  shall  never  renew  this  cause  of  resentment  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  ourselves  by  imitating  it.  We  grate- 
fully receive  testimonies  of  friendship  from  the  different  nation- 
alities which  form  the  great  British  union  !  We  pray  that 
justice  may  establish  and  bind  up  the  unity  of  nations,  that 
equality  may  more  and  more  become  its  basis ;  but  while,  with 
you,  with  her,  and  with  all,  proclaiming  the  holy  dogma  of 
fraternity,  we  will  only  perform  acts  as  fraternal  as  our  principles 
and  sentiments." 

Cries  of  "  Long  live  the  republic  !"  and  "  Long  live  Laniar- 
tine  !"  from  the  immense  multitude  that  surrounded  the  Irish, 
welcomed  these  words.  These  shouts  showed  them  that  the 
refusal  of  the  minister  on  these  grounds  was  even  more  popu- 
lar than  their  cause,  and  they  did  not  persist.  They  feigned 
to  be  satisfied  with  this  language.  The  next  morning  their 
leaders  dined,  as  private  individuals,  with  the  minister,  and 
made  no  reference  to  the  session  of  the  preceding  evening. 

VOL.  u.  13* 


BOOK  XIII 


I. 

Meanwhile,  tlie  manifesto  of  France  to  foreign  nutions  and 
governments  produced  its  results  upon  the  continent.  The 
nations,  tranquillized  on  the  subject  of  the  ambition  of  the  re- 
public, abandoned  themselves  to  the  natural  direction  of  their 
inclination  to  liberty.  The  reverberation  of  the  Revolution  of 
Paris,  thus  interpreted,  shook  the  world  more  than  the  cannons 
of  Marengo  or  Austerlitz. 

The  first  and  most  unexpected  reverberation  was  felt  at 
Vienna,  on  the  14th  of  March.  Prince  Metternich,  whose 
government  for  a  long  time  had  only  been  an  obsequious 
homage  to  the  wishes  of  the  nobility,  and  the  superstitions  of 
three  women,  who  surrounded  an  always  childish  emperor,  was 
surprised  by  the  event.  Unforeseen  and  irresistible  insurrec- 
tion swept  away  the  priesthood,  the  court,  the  aristocracy,  and 
the  government.  The  imperial  family  abandoned  Vienna  to 
revolution.  The  prince  abandoned  monarchy  itself,  and  fled 
into  the  Tyrol. 

Berlin  responded  to  Vienna  on  the  18th  of  March.  The 
king,  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  resisted  and  triumphed  the 
first  day.  Astonished  at  his  victory,  less  embarrassed  in  con- 
quering than  in  governing,  he  gave  up  his  sword  to  the  van- 
quished people.  The  Poles,  coming  out  of  the  prisons  of 
Berlin,  found  themselves  masters  of  the  monarchy.  They  im- 
pelled the  people  to  a  republic.  The  king,  at  the  advice  of  the 
only  minister  who  preserved  his  coolness,  anticipated  this 
movement  by  a  Machiavellian  flattery  of  the  German  spirit. 
Ambitious  perforce,  this  minister  suddenly  made  the  king 
adopt  the  colors  of  German  unity,  the  passion  of  the  second- 
ary nations  of  Germany.  Frederic  William  thus  regained 
revolutionary  popularity  in  Germany  at  the  very  moment  when 
he  was  risking  the  loss  of  his  own  crown. 


HISTORY    OF    THE  REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  151 

n. 

A  second  movement,  yet  more  democratic  than  the  first, 
agitated  Vienna  a  few  days  afterwards.  Again  it  was  the 
Poles,  united  with  the  students,  who  achieved  it.  The  cry  of 
this  third  revolution  was  the  republic.  It  discarded  the  consti- 
tution granted  by  the  emperor  on  the  16th  of  March,  and 
appealed  to  a  constituent  assembly  by  universal  suffrage. 
Hungary,  a  nation  of  twenty  millions  of  men,  on  whom  the 
Austrian  yoke  weighed  heavily,  profited  by  the  revolution  at 
Vie.ina  to  attempt  its  emancipation  and  erect  itself  into  an  in- 
dependent government.  This  emancipation,  complicated  by  a 
civil  war  of  races  between  the  Croats  and  Hungarians,  aroused 
the  armed  populations.  Sometimes  rolled  back,  sometimes 
threatening  Austria,  this  war  yet  holds  the  fate  of  Hungarian 
independence  and  Austrian  revolution  in  suspense. 

Beyond  the  Alps,  Lombardy  felt  that  the  hour  of  her  eman- 
cipation, sounded  at  Paris,  and  repeated  at  Vienna  on  the  14th 
of  March,  had  arrived.  Milan,  her  capital,  rose  on  the  20th 
of  March,  and  drove  the  Austrians  far  from  her  walls. 

Venice  imitated  her,  and,  tempered  anew  in  servitude,  her 
people  recovered  their  ancient  heroism,  rendered  dormant  by 
her  former  prosperity. 

At  the  beginning  of  April,  the  duchies  of  Parma  and  Mo- 
dena  expelled  their  government,  a  vice-royalty  of  Austria. 
These  duchies  proclaimed  the  republic  provisionally,  while 
waiting  the  fortune  of  arms  to  decide  the  unity  of  northern 
Italy. 

Tuscany,  anticipated  in  her  desires  by  a  popular  and  liberal 
prince,  assumed  a  constitution.  Eome,  initiated  in  liberty 
and  urged  to  independence  by  a  Pope  more  rash  than  politic, 
was  roused  to  impatience,  and  by  turns  excited  and  restrained 
by  him. 

Naples  had  extorted  a  constitution  from  her  king.  The 
army  remained  with  the  king,  and  opposed,  under  his  direc- 
tion, republican  attempts.  Sicily  proclaimed  her  independence, 
and  shed  her  blood  to  seal  it. 

Finally,  Charles  Albert,  the  King  of  Sardinia,  imitating  the 
King  of  Prussia,  raised  the  standard  of  Italian  independence 
at  the  head  of  a  hundred  thousand  men.  The  paid  ally,  al- 
most the  vassal,  of  Austrian  policy,  he  profited  by  the  reverses 
of  Austria  to  inarch  upon  Lombardy.  Drawn  on  by  his 
former  ambition,  impelled  by  his  people,  retained  by  his  illib- 


152  HISTORY    OF    THE 

sral  principles,  blamed  by  his  court  an  d  clergy,  and  applauded 
And  nnenaced  by  republicans,  he  thretv  himself,  without  fore- 
sight or  logic,  into  an  abyss  of  contradictions,  faults  and  diffi- 
culties. He  thought  to  escape  the  republic  by  conquest.  He 
found  only  exile  and  the  ruin  of  his  country.  A  good  sol- 
dier, a  bad  leader,  an  inconsistent  man,  —  by  turns  a  revolu- 
tionary and  proscriptive  prince,  he  was  bom  to  be  the  passive 
and  unfortunate  instrument  of  ruling  parties.  He  redeemed, 
by  his  personal  heroism,  the  imperfections  of  his  intelligence 
and  his  character.     History  will  pity  and  honor  him. 

III. 

Each  of  the  events  thus  grouped  together,  bursting  singly 
upon  Paris,  was  echoed  by  immense  acclamations  of  joy.  The 
greatest  danger  to  the  republic  was  the  fear  of  a  coalition 
against  her.  Fear  is  cruel.  It  awakens  the  cry  of  treason. 
It  builds  scaffolds.  It  justifies  dictatorships.  It  gives  the 
government  to  extreme  parties.  Lamartine,  above  all  things, 
feared  these  coalition  panics,  which  might  seize  upon  France, 
and  drive  her  to  convulsions  and  bloodshed.  The  successive 
throes  of  Europe,  the  dethronements,  the  emancipation  of  na- 
tions, which  he  had  predicted  to  his  colleagues  and  the  public, 
weekly  fortified  his  pacific  system.  The  horizon  opened  on  all 
sides.  The  democracy  fraternized,  from  the  Danube  to  the  Tiber. 
The  air  entered  with  serenity  and  security  into  the  public  mind 
of  Paris.  Fear  was  dissipated  in  the  darkest  hearts.  The 
most  reckless  partisans  of  aggression  around  the  government 
wanted  a  pretext.  Even  the  clubs  shouted  the  benefits  of 
peace.  The  confidential  agents  which  the  minister  of  foreign 
affairs  had  sent  to  all  the  capitals  of  Europe  announced  to 
him  by  all  the  couriers  the  popular  success  of  his  diplomacy  ; 
inoffensive  to  nations,  irreproachable  to  governments,  all-pow- 
erful in  its  results. 

All  discussion  on  foreign  affairs  had  ended,  even  in  the 
midst  of  the  government.  The  minister,  alone  and  uncontra- 
dicted, directed  the  destiny  of  our  pol'cy.  Fortune  justified 
him.  He  only  entered  the  ministerial  council  to  bring  new 
auguries  or  new  triumphs  for  the  republic  His  colleagues 
shared  his  rejoicing.  The  sad  anxieties  of  the  interior  were 
for  a  few  moments  banished  from  their  hearts  by  the  assuring 
prospects  without. 

"  Every  time  a  courier  rea  :hes  me,"  said  he  to  the  govern- 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  153 

merit,  "  and  I  come  here  to  converse  with  you  on  our  foreign 
affairs,  I  bring  you  a  fragment  of  Europe."  Europe  was,  in 
fact,  crumbling  under  the  recoil  of  the  Parisian  republic,  be- 
cause the  republic  had  been  wise  enough  not  to  employ  vio- 
lence against  Europe. 

The  minister  did  not  deny  that,  after  this  movement  of  de- 
composition, Europe  would  have  a  violent  movement  for  the 
reconstruction  of  the  old  monarchical  order.  He  neither  be- 
lieved nor  desired  that  the  ill-prepared  people  should  pass  to 
a  republic  at  one  bound.  It  was  enough  for  France  that  the 
spirit  of  the  nations  by  whom  she  was  immediately  surround- 
ed should  be  introduced  by  constitutional  institutions  into 
their  own  governments,  as  an  element  of  fraternity,  consolida- 
tion and  peace  with  France.     Such  was  his  true  idea. 

IV. 

Thus  his  foreign  agents  were  all,  without  exception,  for- 
mally instructed  not  to  enter  into  any  plots  against  gov- 
ernments, not  to  mix  themselves  up  with  any  republican 
movement,  not  to  push  any  nation  to  insurrection,  or  any 
prince  to  war.  He  did  not  wish  to  engage  the  republic,  by 
any  moral  complicity  whatever,  in  causes  or  fortunes  which 
she  might  have  to  disavow  at  a  later  period.  He  carried  these 
scruples  to  the  point  of  refusing  to  explain  himself,  by  any 
sign  of  blame  or  encouragement,  when  King  Charles  Albert 
notified  him  of  his  declaration  of  war  against  Austria.  It  was 
impossible  for  the  Marquis  of  Brignole,  the  ambassador  of  this 
sovereign,  whom  Lamartine  saw  daily,  to  find  out  whether  the 
French  government  approved  or  disapproved  of  this  declara- 
tion of  war.  To  approve,  was  to  assume  a  tacit  engagement 
to  follow  its  contingencies  and  make  indirect  war  on  Austria ; 
to  blame  it,  was  to  discourage  an  attempt  at  Italian  independ- 
ence by  Italy  herself.  He  was  silent,  and  confined  himself  to 
pressing  the  formation  of  the  army  of  the  Alps ;  for  whether 
it  succeeded  or  failed,  the  war  of  Piedmont  on  Austria  must 
bring  the  French  army  across  the  Alps,  either  to  act  or  negoti- 
ate, with  arms  in  their  hands. 

This  plan,  which  embraced  the  whole  foreign  policy  of  La- 
martine in  Italy,  was  broken  up,  after  the  events  of  June,  by 
the  ministry  which  succeeded  him.  He  knows  neither  the 
necessities  nor  the  motives  of  the  second  government  of  the 
republic.     He  does  not  judge  —  he  relates. 


154  HISTORY    OF    THE 


As  for  Germany,  the  provisional  government  had  but  one 
plan,  —  a  respectful  and  benevolent  neutrality  towards  all  the 
Germanic  powers  ;  the  friendship  of  Germany  reconquered, 
at  all  cost,  by  the  abnegation  of  all  conquest  and  intermeddling 
with  her  affairs ;  an  army  of  two  hundred  thousand  men  to 
cover  the  Rhine  in  six  weeks,  and  cross  it,  as  a  disinterested 
auxiliary,  at  the  call  of  the  Roman  people,  if  Gennany  should 
summon  it  against  foreign  oppression. 

The  whole  French  policy,  German,  Hungarian,  and  Polish, 
was  confined  to  these  limits.  Nothing  has  changed  on  this 
side,  but  we  have  lost  the  opportunity  for  an  Italian  league. 
Mediation  could  have  no  effect  except  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Alps.  The  French  democracy,  moreover,  can  only  charge 
itself  with  these  abortions  of  the  ideas  of  the  provisional  gov- 
ernment on  Italy.  It  was,  doubtless,  the  demagogical  and 
socialist  risings  of  June  which  fettered  the  army  of  the  Alps, 
under  the  government  of  General  Cavaignac,  and,  as  a  fatal 
consequence,  produced  the  odious  war  of  France  against  Rome. 
But  France  and  Italy  will  not  suffer  themselves  to  be  disunited 
by  the  mistakes  of  governments.  They  have  nature  in  the 
place  of  a  treaty. 

VI. 

Sucti  was  the  external  situation  of  France  at  the  beginning 
of  April.  England,  reclaimed  by  the  wise  moderation  of  the 
government  to  feeling,  respect,  and  admiration  for  a  democ- 
racy which  restrained  at  once  anarchy  and  war,  had  no  pre- 
text for  bitterness  or  hostility.  The  new  French  republic  was 
popular  in  London. 

One  man  alone,  through  the  whole  of  Great  Britain,  tra- 
duced it  in  his  words  and  writings.  This  was  Lord  Brougham, 
an  eminent  but  capricious  and  inconsistent  man.  A  uni- 
versal but  superficial  writer,  an  orator  of  vigor  but  not  of 
genius,  himself  an  offspring  of  democracy.  Lord  Brougham 
aifected  the  posthumous  character  of  Burke,  in  opposition  to  a 
republic  which  had  neither  the  blood  of  a  queen  nor  the  blood 
of  a  single  citizen  upon  its  hands.  His  sarcasms  recoiled  upon 
himself,  for  Lord  Brougham,  in  imitation  of  Anarcharsis  Klootz, 
had  solicited  of  the  provisional  government  the  title  of  citizen 
of  the  republic. 

Parliament  and  Lord  Palmerston  showed  themselves  pene- 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848. 


155 


trated  with  a  feeling  for  the  inviolability  of  nations,  in  their 
internal  transformations.  They,  as  well  as  Lord  Normanby, 
the  British  ambassador  at  Paris,  showed  less  political  suscepti- 
bility on  certain  acts  and  words  of  the  republic,  than  they 
would  have  shown  perhaps  to  a  firmly-seated  monarchical  gov- 
ernment. It  was  apparent  that  they  reckoned  the  difficult  cir- 
cumstances against  which  the  provisional  government  struggled 
for  the  maintenance  of  peace.  They  allowed  consideration 
and  time  for  the  founding  and  characterization  of  the  French 
policy.  In  that,  the  government  of  Lord  Palmerston  deserved 
well  of  humanity.  Democracies  are  distrustful.  Lamartine 
had  trouble  enough  to  disperse  the  remains  of  old  anti-British 
prejudices.  Impatience  on  the  part  of  Lord  Palmerston  would 
have  compromised  everything.  It  was  the  period  of  his  politi- 
cal life  when  he  was  most  a  statesman,  because  he  was  for- 
bearing and  philosophical. 


VIL 

The  rising  of  Lombardy  and  the  first  advantages  of  Charles 
Albert,  the  disturbances  in  Bohemia,  the  independence  of  Hun- 
gary, the  convocation  of  the  Diet  of  Frankfort  to  establish  in 
the  Germanic  federation  the  metaphysical  principle  of  German, 
unity,  had  so  dismembered  and  disconcerted  Austria,  that  it 
officiously  made  England  and  France  the  first  overtures  of 
concession  in  Italy,  of  a  nature  to  satisfy  at  once  Sardinia, 
France,  England,  and  the  independence  of  the  north  of  Italy. 

An  ill-informed  statesman,  M.  Thiers,  in  repudiating,  later, 
in  the  tribune,  the  foreign  policy  of  the  provisional  govern- 
ment, has  said  that  the  government  declined  these  proposi- 
tions. The  reverse  is  true.  Lamartine  was  too  much  the 
friend  of  peace  and  Italy  to  decline  propositions  which  would, 
in  a  large  measure,  insure  peace  and  independence.  The 
envoys  of  Austria  officiously  made  it  a  judge  of  the  offers 
which  the  emperor  was  disposed  to  make  to  Sardinia.  The 
question  was  of  the  abandonment  of  Lombardy  and  the  duch- 
ies of  Parma,  and  a  constitution  given  to  Venice,  under  an 
independent  vice-royalty  of  the  house  of  Austria.  Lamartine 
did  not  hesitate  to  acknowledge  that  these  propositions  would 
largely  satisfy  the  legitimate  ambitions  of  liberation  in  Italy, 
and  encourage  the  Austrian  cabinet  to  negotiations  on  these 
bases.  Twice  these  overtures  were  made  to  him  semi- 
officially, and  twice  he  held  the  same  language.     He  would 


156  HISTORY   OF   THE 

have  been  neither  statesman  nor  patriot,  if  he  had  not  repelled 
them.  For  the  conclusion  of  such  an  arrangement  permitted 
the  republic  to  restore  one  of  its  frontiers,  violated,  after  the 
Hundred  Days,  by  the  second  treaty  of  1815;  and  he  thought 
of  it  at  a  distance. 

VIII. 

At  home,  France  calmly  meditated  upon  the  approaching 
general  elections.  It  was  canvassing,  without  prejudice  or 
exclusion,  its  candidacies.  The  streets  of  Paris  alone  were 
in  agitation.  A  quiet  but  indolent  populace  of  two  or  three 
hundred  thousand  souls  awaited  its  fate  from  the  National 
Assembly.  No  faith  could  be  felt  in  a  definitive  republic  until 
after  the  representation  of  the  country  should  have  been  adopt- 
ed. Confidence  and  credit,  the  motives  of  labor,  would  revive 
only  under  a  constituted  government.  Till  then,  everything 
floated  in  the  unknown. 

The  tendencies  of  the  dictatorial  government  were  equivocal 
in  the  eyes  of  the  population.  Contradictory  symptoms  were 
perceived.  It  was  believed  that  violent  ruptures  had  taken 
place  between  the  members.  The  immense  majority  of  the 
nation  adhered  to  moderate  men,  personified  under  a  few 
names.  The  dreaded  and  turbulent  minority  of  Paris  and  of 
the  clubs  of  the  departments  adhered  to  other  names.  The 
hotel  of  the  ministry  of  foreign  affairs  and  the  hotel  of  the 
ministry  of  the  interior  were,  it  was  said,  the  head-quarters  of 
two  opinions,  which  were  destined  ere  long  to  engage  in  armed 
conflict.  This  notion  was  so  widely  spread  among  the  people, 
that  several  hundreds  of  armed  citizens,  from  the  faubourgs  or 
the  interior  of  Paris,  came  sometimes  of  themselves,  and  with- 
out Lamartine's  being  aware  of  it,  to  pass  the  night  under  the 
court-yard  gates  and  on  the  sidewalks  of  the  streets  adjacent 
to  his  dwelling,  in  order  to  guard  against  his  being  surprised 
and  forcibly  carried  off".  The  minister  of  the  interior,  on  his 
side,  had,  it  was  said,  his  adherents  and  his  forces ;  the  club 
of  Barbes,  the  disciples  of  Louis  Blanc  and  of  Albert,  and  the 
leaders  of  a  kind  of  association  called  the  Club  of  Clubs,  which 
centralized  the  democratic  agitation,  there  assembled.  These 
members  of  the  Club  of  Clubs  came  two  or  three  times  as  a 
deputation  to  the  ministry  of  foreign  affairs.  Lamartine  spoke 
to  them  frankly,  encouraging  them  to  confide  in  the  National 
Assembly.  He  told  them  distinctly  that  he  would  listen  to  no 
proposition  to  prolong  the  dictatorship,  that  he  had  devoted 


REVOLUTION   OF   1843. 


157 


himself  on  the  24th  of  February  to  save  his  country  from 
anarchy,  and  to  offer  France,  by  the  republic,  a  regular  gov- 
ernment ;  but  that  when  once  the  sovereignty  of  the  people 
should  be  recovered  in  the  National  Assembly,  no  seduction 
or  violence  should  force  from  him  an  insurrectional  govern- 
ment.    These  men  appeared  ardent,  but  well-intentioned. 

A  few  disorders,  without  importance,  but  which  might  possi- 
bly degenerate  into  scandals  and  collisions,  annoj'ed,  in  the 
early  part  of  spring,  the  peaceable  inhabitants  of  Paris.  The 
cause  of  these  disorders  was  only  the  idleness  of  the  workmen 
of  Paris,  and  the  pretext  was  only  the  civic  rejoicings.  Liber- 
ty-trees were  planted  on  all  tlie  squares  and  before  all  the  mon- 
uments of  Paris.  Bands  of  vagabonds  and  children  went  to 
purchase  young  poplars  in  the  neighboring  villages,  brought 
them  on  their  shoulders,  planted  them  arbitrarily  in  such  or 
such  a  place,  fired  off  muskets,  uttered  shouts,  sometinies  im- 
portuned the  clergy  in  order  to  summon  it  to  bless  their  tree, 
and  levied  on  the  adjacent  houses  light  subsidies,  voluntary, 
but  disagreeable,  in  order  to  sprinkle  the  roots  with  wine.  The 
minister  of  war,  M.  Arago,  prohibited  these  groups,  by  armed 
force,  from  the  court  of  the  ministry  of  marine.  Caussidiere 
did  not  venture  to  treat  these  tumults  roughly,  for  fear  they 
should  be  increased  in  attempting  to  repress  them.  These 
demonstrations  degenerated  by  the  16th  of  April  into  a  kind 
of  noisy  mendicity,  which  could  no  longer  be  tolerated.  But 
the  repressive  force  was  still  insufficiently  numerous  to  engage 
it  imprudently  against  these  seditions  of  the  indigence  and 
gayety  of  a  people  without  bread. 


IX. 

Some  other  symptoms  of  more  alarming  seditions  two  or 
three  times  saddened  the  government. 

A  column  of  people,  excited  by  German  refugees,  formed, 
on  occasion  of  an  Austrian  defeat,  in  order  to  go  and  insult 
the  ambassador  of  that  power.  Lamartine,  informed  of  it, 
having  no  other  repressive  force  at  hand,  trusted  to  the  sole 
force  of  reason  upon  the  people.  He  went  out  alone,  and,  like 
a  sentinel  before  the  gate  of  the  ambassador,  awaited  for  two 
hours  the  seditious  gathering.  Meanwhile,  certain  skilful  and 
persuasive  agents  whom  he  had  sent  decided  the  leaders  of 
the  mob  to  renounce  this  shameful  attack  on  the  rights  of  na- 
tions.    They  took  another  route,  repaired  to  the   Champ-de- 

VOL.  II.  14 


158  HISTORY    OF   THE 

Mars,  and  thence  to  the  ministry  of  the  inteiior.  The  minis- 
ter harangued  them  with  eloquence  and  firmoess.  He  aimed 
especially  in  this  discourse  to  reinstate  the  army  in  the  heart 
of  the  people  of  Paris,  and  to  prepare  for  the  return  of  the 
troops  to  the  capital. 

This  return,  patiently  and  prudently  managed,  was  the  prin- 
cipal thought  of  M.  Arago  and  of  the  majority  of  government. 
But  it  could  be  justified  only  on  the  desire  of  the  National 
Guard  itself.  The  premature  reentrance  of  the  army,  before  the 
susceptibilities  of  the  people  were  extinct,  would  be  the  inevi- 
table signal  of  a  shock  from  which  a  second  civil  war  would 
arise.  An  eager  desire  for  the  army  began  to  be  felt.  The 
socialist  and  demagogue  party  alone  sowed  alarm  and  prepared 
sedition  at  each  announcement  of  the  return  of  our  soldiers. 


X. 

The  nearer  the  elections  —  fixed  at  first  for  the  beginning  of 
April  —  approached,  the  more  the  parties  which  dreaded  being 
dispossessed  of  the  dictatorship  shuddered  and  threatened  at 
Paris.  The  clubs,  although  influenced  by  the  correspondence 
which  Lamartine  held  with  their  principal  prompters,  revolted 
even  against  their  own  chiefs,  in  the  name  alone  of  the  sover- 
eign assembly  that  was  coming  to  shut  the  mouths  of  all  these 
volcanoes.  Violent  proposals,  anticipated  seditions,  protesta- 
tions of  a  design  of  continuing  armed  to  watch  over  the  repre- 
sentatives, in  order  to  constrain  them,  —  oaths  required  of  candi- 
dates for  the  grades  of  officer  in  the  National  Guard,  to  march 
against  the  representatives  themselves,  if  they  should  disavow 
or  betray  the  republic,  —  attested  the  repugnance  of  the  revolu- 
tion to  recognize  any  other  sovereignty  than  that  of  Paris.  It 
appeared  evident  that  Paris  would  not  surrender  without  concus- 
sion the  absolute  and  dictatorial  power  with  which  the  revolution 
had  invested  it. 

Even  in  the  bosom  of  the  government,  opinions  were  divided, 
not  upon  the  right  of  evoking  the  definitive  sovereignty  of  the 
nation,  but  with  respect  to  fixing  the  date  for  the  meeting  of  the 
Assembly  at  Paris.  The  majority  wished  to  hasten  forward  the 
day  of  the  elections  as  much  as  possible ;  the  minority  seemed 
to  hesitate  about  fixing  it.  Petitions  from  the  workmen  and 
delegates  of  the  Luxembourg  incessantly,  under  divers  pretexts, 
demanded  the  postponement  of  the  elections.  Sometimes  they 
were  not  sufficiently  qualified  for  this  exercise,  new  for  them,  of  the 


REVOLUTION   OF   1843.  159 

rights  of  citizens ;  sometimes  they  had  not  the  time  requisite  to 
discuss  their  candidates  ;  sometimes  their  inexperience  of  the 
electoral  right  needed  instruction  in  preparatory  meetings.  Such 
pretexts,  as  vain  as  they  were  diversified,  impeached  the  real 
motives  of  this  resistance,  concealed  under  the  sophistries  of 
postponement. 

On  the  other  side,  the  minister  of  the  interior  was  waiting  for 
complete  reports  from  his  agents  in  the  departments,  in  order  to 
resolve  upon  a  definitive  decision  in  the  government  council. 
These  reports  arrived  only  one  by  one ;  some  of  the  agents 
sowed  alarm  in  their  reports.  The  least  freedom  of  opinion 
manifested  in  their  provinces,  and  the  signs  of  independence  or 
of  discontent,  often  very  legitimate,  against  the  omnipotence  of 
their  administration,  they  called  reaction  against  government 
The  men  who  at  Paris  aspired  to  prolong  the  dictatorship  indef- 
initely armed  themselves  with  these  reports,  to  cry  treason 
against  those  who  desired  to  restore  to  the  nation  a  power  thus 
far  fortunate  and  mild,  but  which  might  change  into  tyranny 
and  anarchy  if  it  were  perpetuated.  Suspicions  were  awakened 
on  all  sides. 

The  partisans  of  a  deferred  election  suspected  their  opponents 
of  conspiring  with  future  restorations,  and  of  preparing  the 
shortest  ways  to  the  reestablishment  of  the  state  and  men  of  the 
old  monarchies.  The  partisans  of  an  immediate  election  saw 
in  those  of  the  opposite  party  ambitious  men  and  the  upstarts 
of  liberty,  trembling  at  being  deprived  of  an  unhoped-for  power, 
which  fortune  had  placed  in  their  hands,  and  ready  to  declare 
themselves  the  sole  guardians  of  the  republic,  in  order  to  rule 
and,  perhaps,  rend  asunder  the  country,  in  its  name. 

In  fine,  the  chiefs  of  the  socialist  sects  and  the  leaders  of  the 
industrial  class  feared  to  see  their  tribunes  overthrown,  and  their 
empire  destroyed,  by  the  approach  of  the  provinces  to  Paris. 
This  common  aversion  to  the  establishment  of  the  national 
power  appeared  to  draw  together  the  socialists  and  convention- 
alists, two  parties  which  were  to  be  united  at  a  later  period,  but 
which  had  hated  each  other  up  to  this  moment. 

The  deliberations  of  the  government  itself  felt  the  influence 
of  these  outward  parties,  both  of  whose  spirits  had  forced  an 
entrance  there.  These  deliberations  became  rare,  disturbed, 
and  short,  —  often  irritated.  The  majority  had  decided  to  make 
this  question  the  test  of  the  union  or  dismemberment  of  the 
government.  A  final  day  was  appointed  to  take  a  last  resolu- 
tion on  this  subject.     The  session  was  long,  but  without  con- 


160  HISTORY    OF   THE 

vulsion.  M.  Ledru  Eollin  read  an  extract  from  tho  report  of 
his  commissioners.  He  proved,  by  evidence  from  dates,  and  the 
nature  of  the  preparatory  operations  to  be  accomplished,  that 
the  time  necessary  for  the  completion  of  these  operations  re- 
quired seven  or  eight  days  beyond  the  term  appointed  by  the 
first  decree.  They  unanimously  agreed  that  it  was  necessary, 
for  the  interest  of  the  safety  of  the  National  Assembly,  to  wait 
until  the  National  Guard  of  Paris  should  be  organized,  equipped, 
and  armed,  in  order  that  this  civic  force  might  surround  the 
representative  body  of  France  with  security  and  respect.  A 
certain  nvimber  of  days  were  required  for  this  renovated  National 
Guard  to  be  under  arms.  They  appointed  the  twenty-seventh 
of  April,  Easter  day,  for  the  general  elections,  and  the  fourth 
of  May  for  the  opening  of  the  National  Assembly. 

This  resolution,  loyally  taken,  with  common  accord,  did  much 
to  dissipate  the  doubts  in  minds  prejudiced  against  each  other, 
and  to  calm  the  secret  irritations  which  were  brooding  in  their 
hearts.  The  majority  of  the  government  saw  that  the  minority 
was  confounded  with  it,  and  threw  themselves,  with  less  confi- 
dence perhaps,  but  with  equal  sincerity,  upon  the  country. 
From  this  day  the  men  who  had  been  alienated  became  recon- 
ciled. The  majority  had  obtained  what  it  desired,  since  the 
dictatorship  was  loyally  abjured  by  all  parties. 

Some  differences,  however,  were  still  manifested,  in  words 
and  acts,  relative  to  the  elections.  A  circular  of  the  minister 
of  the  interior  was  discussed.  Agreeing  in  spirit,  they  came 
to  an  accommodation  respecting  the  terms.  A  more  revolu- 
tionary measure  was  perseveringly  demanded,  not  by  M.  Ledru 
Rollin,  but  by  the  delegates  of  the  Luxembourg,  and  the  clubs 
of  the  industrial  workmen  of  Paris.  This  measure  consisted 
in  granting  to  these  assemblies  the  power  of  sending  into  each 
department  two  or  three  emissaries,  chosen  from  the  different 
classes  of  the  workmen  of  the  capital,  and  whose  mission 
should  be  paid,  under  the  title  of  supplies  of  the  republic,  from 
the  funds  of  the  minister  of  the  interior.  This  supply  would 
amount  to  the  sum  of  a  hundred,  or  a  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  francs.  M.  Ledru  Rollin  refused  to  take,  upon  his 
sole  responsibility,  the  employment  of  so  large  a  sum,  unless 
he  was  protected  by  the  formal  consent  of  the  council.  The 
council  authorized  the  measure  and  the  expense.  It  recom- 
mended to  the  minister  to  watch  over  the  choice  of  his  emissa- 
ries, and  only  to  appoint  honest,  honorable,  and  moderate  men, 
models,  and  not  agitators,  and  to  limit  their  mission  to  the 


REVOLUTION    OF    1818.  161 

publication  of  sound  republican  doctrines  and  technical  infor- 
mation as  to  the  exercise  of  their  electoral  rights.  All  inter- 
vention, even  confidential,  of  those  agents,  in  the  name  of  the 
government,  in  the  elections,  was  forbidden.  On  these  condi- 
tions the  measure  was  authorized.  It  was  justified  even  in 
the  minds  of  those  who  were  opposed  to  it,  and  who  foresaw  its 
inconveniences,  by  the  necessity  of  inducing  the  two  hundred 
thousand  workmen  of  Paris  to  accept  voluntarily  the  time  as- 
signed for  the  elections.  It  was  a  concession  to  the  emergency, 
a  sacrifice  to  concord.  An  insurrection  of  two  hundred  thou- 
sand workmen  of  Paris,  against  the  advanced  date  of  the  elec- 
tions, would  have  cost  more  gold  and  more  blood.  Such  was 
the  spirit  of  the  concession.  It  was  a  fault.  The  minister  of 
foreign  afl^airs  felt  this  in  consenting  to  it.  Some  of  those 
men  scandalized  public  opinion  and  morality  by  acts  and  by 
relations  which  tarnished  their  missions.  But  their  mission, 
demanded  by  some,  tolerated  by  others,  recognized  as  neces- 
sary by  all,  had  no  other  motive,  no  other  object;  although 
unfortunate  in  the  selections,  this  measure  contributed  power- 
fully to  render  the  elections  acceptable,  and  to  hasten  them. 

XI. 

At  this  period  Lamartine,  foreseeing  inevitable  disturbances 
and  military  necessities  after  the  meeting  of  the  National 
Assembly,  secretly  and  busily  employed  himself  with  a  more 
active  organization  of  the  army,  bringing  it  nearer  to  Paris, 
and  conferring  the  command  of  it  upon  a  firm,  popular,  and 
republican  general.  In  order  to  restore  the  popularity  of  the 
army,  it  was  requisite  that  the  definitive  chief  who  should  be 
appointed  to  it  should  be  one  whose  military  character  was 
agreeable  to  the  soldiery,  and  whose  political  character  was 
above  all  suspicion  of  treason  to  the  republic. 

M.  Arago,  at  once  minister  of  war  and  minister  of  the 
navy,  was  equal  to  these  two  great  administrations,  by  the 
activity  and  by  the  extent  of  his  intelligence.  His  name  had 
thus  far  served  to  extinguish  the  rivalries  which  might  have 
risen  among  the  general  officers,  easily  jealous  of  the  prefer- 
ence that  the  government  might  have  given  to  one  over  the 
others.  A  citizen  name  neutralized  the  command  of  the  army. 
M.  Arago  had  been  respected  by  military  men,  rather  as  a  law 
than  as  a  minister.  His  impartial  energj'  had  reestablished 
and   maintained  discipline.      The   army   was   recruited  and 

VOL.  u.  14* 


162  HISTORY    OF    THE 

obeyed  as  well  as  at  any  other  epoch  of  our  history.  But  the 
Assembly  was  approaching.  M.  Arago  would  reenter,  perhaps, 
the  ranks  of  the  representatives.  The  Assembly  would  have 
need  of  force  at  Paris,  and  around  Paris ;  it  would  need  a  min- 
ister who  could  both  organize  and  combat. 

Lamartine  indulged  in  no  illusion  with  reference  to  the 
future.  He  knew  from  history  that  a  government  newly-born 
has  for  several  years  to  sustain  assaults,  and  that  the  cradle  of 
this  government,  be  it  a  republic  or  monarchy,  needs  to  be 
overshadowed  by  bayonets.  Democracy,  in  particular,  wishes 
to  be  strong,  and  so  much  the  stronger  in  proportion  as  it  is 
the  nearer  demagogism.  All  the  crimes  of  anarchy  come 
from  feebleness.  Socialism  and  pauperism,  dangers  peculiar 
to  a  civilization  too  industrial,  rendered  more  evident  for  aU 
eyes  the  necessity  of  vigorously  arming  the  republic.  For 
this  purpose,  Lamartine  had  been  for  a  long  time  maturing 
three  measures.  The  first  was  an  army,  powerfully  organized, 
and  disposed  over  the  territory  in  three  great  bodies,  each 
serving  as  the  support  of  the  other,  and  being  able,  by  their 
wide  and  rapid  evolutions,  not  only  to  suppress,  here  or  there, 
this  or  that  sedition,  but  to  manoeuvre  on  a  large  scale,  through- 
out the  whole  extent  of  the  French  territory,  upon  bases  pre- 
viously selected,  as  in  the  great  civil  wars  of  Rome.  Three 
generals  must  command  these  three  bodies.  The  one  at  Paris 
and  in  the  line  extending  immediately  from  Paris,  the  other  at 
Bourges  and  in  the  neighboring  provinces,  the  third  from 
Lyons  to  Marseilles. 

The  second  measure  was  the  formation  of  a  reserve  of 
..nree  hundred  battalions  of  the  departments,  composed  of  the 
Guard  Mobile,  armed,  disciplined,  equipped,  exercised  and  or- 
ganized, but  remaining  at  their  homes,  and  only  going  out  at 
the  call  of  the  council  of  the  department,  of  the  prefect,  or  of 
the  government,  on  the  sudden  outbreak  of  tumult  or  civil 
war.  It  was  the  anti-social  and  anti-anarchical  confederation, 
previously  instituted  and  made  active,  in  the  hands  of  the  de- 
partments. In  case  of  defeat  at  Paris,  social  order  would 
gain,  independently  of  the  army,  three  hundred  thousand  de- 
fenders, and  could  stifle  the  sedition  in  eight  days,  under  the 
walls  of  Paris.  Instead  of  the  revolutionary  army  of  1793,  it 
was  the  republican  army  of  1848,  everywhere  protecting  order, 
property,  and  the  lives  of  the  citizens,  against  terrors,  and  the 
dismemberment  of  the  empire.  In  case  of  foreign  war,  these 
three  hundred  battalions  would  form  a  second  line  upon  our 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  163 

frontiers  and  in  our  fortresses,  and  would  leave  the  rest  of  the 
army  free. 

Lastly,  his  third  measure  was  to  give  to  the  republic  and  the 
National  Assembly  a  minister  of  war,  at  once  a  soldier  and  a 
republican,  who  would  make  the  republic  loved  by  the  army, 
and  who  would  cause  the  army  to  be  received  without  distrust 
by  the  republic. 

The  first  of  these  measures  was  already  half  accomplished 
by  M.  Arago  and  the  government.  The  army  was  in  the  way 
of  being  soon  brought  up  to  five  hundred  thousand  men. 

The  creation  of  three  hundred  battalions  of  the  Guard 
Mobile  of  the  departments  had  been  already  many  times  men- 
tioned by  Lamartine  to  the  council,  in  anticipation  of  the 
events  of  foreign  war.  Lamartine  was  not  ignorant  that  this 
measure,  revealed  in  its  true  light,  would  have  given  umbrage 
to  the  radical  party,  which  evidently  tended  to  suppress  the 
army,  especially  in  Paris,  and  to  substitute  for  it  the  omnipo- 
tence of  the  socialist  organization,  of  the  clubs  and  workmen  ; 
an  organization,  directed  by  the  sectarian  chiefs,  against  the 
merchants,  property,  and  the  bourgeoisie. 

He  adjourned  then,  many  times,  his  formal  proposition.  He 
spoke  of  it  in  private  to  several  of  his  colleagues.  He  in- 
stilled into  them  this  idea,  and  prepared  them  to  propose  it 
themselves  to  the  government. 

M.  Flocon,  who  had  just  entered  into  active  life,  at  the  end 
of  a  long  illness,  and  who  had  a  quick  perception  of  every- 
thing which  related  to  the  power  of  the  country,  undertook  to 
bring  forward,  under  the  form  of  an  urgent  and  formal  propo- 
sition, this  measure,  of  which  he  approved  in  common  with 
the  minister  of  foreign  affairs.  The  well-tried  patriotism  of 
this  young  member  of  the  government,  and  the  ascendency 
of  his  energy  over  the  radical  party,  disconcerted  their  objec- 
tions. Lamartine  supported  him,  as  if  this  idea  had  been  a 
sudden  revelation  of  patriotism  in  danger.  The  decree  was 
carried  with  unanimity.  Lamartine,  on  returning  to  his  house, 
said  to  his  friends :  "  If  the  National  Assembly  executes,  with 
activity,  my  decree  for  three  hundred  thousand  men,  civil  war 
is  henceforth  impossible,  and  society  cannot  be  disturbed  longer 
than  ten  days."  But  to  execute  this  decree,  there  was  need 
of  a  minister.  He  believed  he  had  found  one  in  General 
Cavaignac. 


164  HISTORY   OF   THE 

XII. 

General  Cavaignac,  the  son  of  a  men  of  revolutionary  and 
conventionalist  renown,  was  the  brother  of  one  of  the  young 
precursors  of  the  republic,  another  Carrel,  whose  character, 
talent,  and  memory,  had  been  raised  to  the  sanctity  of  a  religion 
in  the  party  of  active  democracy.  This  name  was  so  popular 
among  those  who  survived  him,  that  it  even  reflected  upon  his 
brother  a  portion  of  this  consideration.  The  second  Cavaignac 
served  in  Africa ;  the  provisional  government,  at  its  first  ses- 
sion at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  had  nominated  him  governor-gen- 
eral. Afterwards  the  government  had  recalled  him  to  Paris, 
by  offering  him  the  ministry  of  war.  The  general  had  replied 
to  the  government  in  somewhat  lofty  terms.  He  had  made 
conditions  so  hard  that  the  government  were  wounded  at  this 
resistance  to  their  first  advance,  and  had  renounced  the  services 
of  this  general  in  Paris. 

Affairs  were  in  this  position,  when  Lamartine,  always  think- 
ing of  strengthening  the  National  Assembly  by  a  military 
chief  given  to  the  army,  opened  by  chance  a  journal,  and  read 
there  a  clear  profession  of  faith,  short  and  republican,  signed 
Cavaignac.  It  was  a  letter  of  the  young  general  to  the  elec- 
tors of  his  department,  who  had  offered  to  make  him  their  can- 
didate for  the  National  Assembly. 

This  letter  expressed  with  precision,  and  with  remarkable 
boldness  and  honor,  all  the  republicanism  of  order,  liberty,  and 
morality,  in  a  manner  after  the  heart  of  Lamartine.  He  was 
much  pleased  with  its  spirit.  He  resolved  to  make  every  ex- 
ertion to  gain  this  character,  this  opinion,  and  this  sword,  for 
the  Assembly  and  the  government.  He  was  not  acquainted  with 
the  general  or  his  family.  He  learned  that  M.  Flocon  was  on 
friendly  terms  with  the  mother  of  the  general.  He  prayed  his 
young  colleague  to  introduce  him  to  this  woman,  very  eminent, 
they  said,  for  her  affection,  spirit,  and  patriotism.  He  did  not 
conceal  from  M.  Flocon  the  object  of  the  interview  which  he 
solicited  with  Madame  Cavaignac.  M.  Flocon  partook  the 
desire  of  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs  to  give  a  military  and 
republican  chief  to  the  army.  But  he  feared  that  the  mother 
of  the  two  Cavaignacs,  already  in  mourning  for  the  first  of  her 
sons,  would  be  unwilling  to  contribute  to  compromise  the  life 
of  the  second,  by  recalling  him,  at  a  stormy  period  and  for 
perilous  duties,  from  a  peaceful  colony,  and  from  a  climate 
necessary  for  the  reestabUshment  of  his  health. 


REVOLUTION   OF    1849.  165 

Madamo  Ca^'aignac  consented,  nevertheless,  to  receive  the 
minister  of  foreign  affairs.  Lamartine  found  in  a  remote  quar- 
ter, and  in  a  modest  apartment,  furnished  with  all  the  marks 
of  widowhood,  retirement,  and  piety,  a  woman  in  mourning, 
on  whose  deeply  expressive  countenance  sensibility  and  power 
contended  over  grave  and  resigned  features.  He  understood 
at  a  glance  why  the  republicans  had  called  this  woman  the 
mother  of  the  Gracchi.  She  had,  in  fact,  in  her  elevation, 
in  her  simplicity,  and  in  her  accent,  something  antique,  yet 
Christian.     Freemen  might  be  reared  beneath  that  aspect. 

Her  conversation  did  not  belie  this  exterior.  Lamartine  had 
rarely  met  her  like,  if  it  were  not  among  some  celebrated 
women  of  the  heroic  stocks  of  Rome  or  Florence.  The  ten- 
derness of  a  mother,  the  energ)'  of  a  citizen,  sounded  in  the  mas- 
culine tone  of  her  voice.  He  broached  the  subject  of  the  inter- 
view. He  spoke  to  Madame  Cavaignac  of  the  dangers  of  the 
republic,  if  it  should  become  feeble  or  exaggerated  at  the  outset ; 
of  the  necessity  of  surrounding  it  with  honorable  and  moderate 
force,  to  save  it  from  the  convulsions  of  feeble  and  spasm.odic 
governments  ;  of  the  sacrifices  which  the  foundation  of  free 
and  democratic  order  demanded  from  every  one,  and  even  from 
mothers  ;  of  the  strong  desire  which  he  had  to  see  the  army 
approach  Paris  under  the  republican  guarantee  of  the  name  of 
her  son.  Madame  Cavaignac  resisted ;  she  was  melted,  not 
on  her  oAvn  account,  but  for  liberty  ;  she  finally  allowed  herself 
to  yield.  "  You  demand  of  me  the  greatest  of  sacrifices,"  said 
she  to  Lamartine ;  "  but  you  have  demanded  it  of  me  in  the 
name  of  the  most  absolute  of  duties.  I  will  grant  it  to  you.  I 
consent  to  communicate  your  desires  to  my  son.  I  will  write  to 
him  of  our  conversation ;  I  wiU  bring  you  his  reply." 

Some  days  afterwards  the  general  himself  replied  to  Lamar- 
tine. His  answer  was  worthy  of  the  son  of  such  a  mother,  — 
without  eagerness,  as  without  weakness.  It  was  agreed  that 
the  general  should  demand  a  leave  of  absence,  and  that  he 
should  return  to  France.  From  this  day  the  three  principal 
designs  of  Lamartine,  to  provide  against  foreign  war,  against 
civil  war,  and  against  anarchy  at  Paris  at  the  opening  of  the 
session  of  the  National  Assembly,  appeared  to  him  accom- 
plished. He  advanced  with  more  confidence  towards  the  un- 
known future. 


166  HISTORY   OF   THE 


XIII. 

But  this  unknown  future,  for  several  wee^s,  was  yet  full  of 
problems  and  conspiracies. 

The  nearer  the  end  of  the  dictatorship  approached,  the  more 
were  the  extreme  parties,  who  felt  their  rule  vanishing  away, 
bent  upon  disputing  it  with  the  nation.  They  shuddered  at  the 
very  name  of  the  National  Assembly.  They  declared  aloud, 
in  their  conventicles  and  clubs,  sometimes,  that  tl.ey  would 
overthrow  the  majority  of  the  government  before  the  day  of 
the  elections  ;  sometimes,  that  they  would  not  suffer  the  Na- 
tional Assembly  to  enter  Paris,  but  as  a  suspected  representa- 
tion, and  held  captive  in  the  midst  of  a  hedge  of  two  hundred 
thousand  destitute  men,  whose  decrees  of  the  people  it  would 
have  to  publish,  or  be  subjected  to  their  violence. 

Sinister  and  atrocious  words  escaped,  like  the  involuntary 
explosions  of  the  feeling  of  revolt  which  resounded  in  the 
hearts  of  certain  men.  The  discourses  of  the  clubs  and  of  the 
delegates  at  the  Luxembourg  became  more  bitter  and  signifi- 
cant. Secret  reports  revealed  to  the  government  nocturnal 
assemblies,  where  the  chiefs  of  the  principal  factions,  opposed 
to  the  opening  of  the  Assembly,  sought  either  to  anticipate  that 
day  by  a  certain  movement,  or  to  remain  so  strongly  armed  in 
Paris  by  the  revolutionary  forces,  that  the  National  Assembly 
would  only  be  their  sport.  The  members  of  the  majority  of 
the  government  were  pointed  out  to  the  suspicion  and  rage  of 
a  portion  of  the  people.  The  journals  that  accused  them  were 
widely  disseminated.  Placards,  in  which  they  were  denounced 
to  the  public  indignation,  drafted  by  the  German  demagogues, 
issued  at  night  from  suspected  presses,  and  inflamed  the  public 
mind  against  men  decided  to  restore  the  republic  to  the  coun- 
try. Some  of  these  placards,  specially  directed  against  Lamar- 
tine,  were  posted  up,  without  the  knowledge  of  his  colleagues, 
by  emissaries,  who  abused  their  names  and  their  protection. 
Witnesses  and  confidants,  indignant  at  these  dangers,  in  which 
they  believed  they  saw  conspiracies,  came  by  night  to  reveal 
them  to  Lamartine.  Lamartine  did  not  believe  them.  He 
was  convinced  of  the  loyalty  of  his  adversaries.  They  might 
fight,  but  could  not  betray. 

But  there  were  two  distinct  camps  in  the  government. 
Around  these  two  camps  were  grouped  diflferent  tendencies, 
opposite  systems  of  the  republic  ;  men  hostile,  suspicious,  and 
violent.     These  men  could  direct  the  will  of  the  chiefs,  einbit- 


REVOLUTICN    OF    1S48.  167 

ler  them  one  against  the  other,  sow  distrust  among  them,  and 
then  lay  snares  for  them,  and  could  use  their  standard  and  their 
name  to  recruit  factions,  and  afterwards  lead  these  factions  to 
extremities. 

The  majority  of  the  government  was  constantly  beset  with 
alarming  reports  respecting  the  conspiracies  which  were  plot- 
ting, they  said,  against  their  safety.  They  frequently  changed 
the  place  of  the  meeting  of  the  council.  They  were  on  their 
guard  against  surprises.  They  sometimes  assembled  secretly 
two  or  three  hundred  armed  men  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
ministry  of  finance,  or  of  the  Luxembourg,  to  prevent  a  sur- 
prise.    All  parties  were  suspected  and  watched. 

Lamartine  was  informed  by  the  spontaneous  communica- 
tions of  men  whose  position  would  permit  them  to  know  all, 
and  by  his  secret  police  over  strangers,  that  irresolute  designs 
against  him  were  conflicting  in  the  minds  of  the  principal 
chiefs  of  the  factions  of  the  clubs.  Fanatical  demagogues  spoke 
aloud  of  putting  him  out  of  the  way.  He  received  every  day 
from  Paris  and  the  departments  written  menaces  of  assassina- 
tion. The  very  police  of  Caussidiere  transmitted  to  him  these 
notices.  He  trusted  himself  to  his  destiny.  He  had  devoted 
himself  wholly,  even  to  death,  on  the  24th  of  February,  in  order 
to  give  its  true  construction  to  the  revolution,  to  preserve  it  pure 
from  crime  and  blood,  and  to  guide  it,  without  internal  catastro- 
phe and  without  foreign  war,  over  the  interregnum  which  might 
swallow  up  his  country.  He  saw  the  shore.  He  was  sure 
that  his  death  would  be  the  signal  of  the  insurrection  of  a  vast 
majority  of  the  people  of  Paris  and  the  unanimity  of  the  de- 
partments, and  that  it  would  assure  the  triumph  of  the  Nation- 
al Assembly  over  the  dictators.  This  certainty  rendered  him 
happy  and  serene.  He  did  not  take  any  precaution,  although 
ne  knew  that  evil  designs  watched  at  his  very  door.  He  went 
out  at  every  hour  of  the  night  and  day,  alone  and  on  foot, 
without  other  arms  than  a  pair  of  pistols  under  his  dress.  His 
popularity  watched  over  him,  without  his  being  aware  of  it. 

It  increased  to  such  a  degree  at  that  time  through  all  France 
and  throughout  Europe,  that  he  received  as  many  as  three 
hundred  letters  a  day,  and  that  all  the  departments  asked  him 
if  he  would  represent  them.  The  people,  who  feel  always 
the  need  of  personifying  an  instinct  in  a  man,  then  personified 
in  him  the  instinct  of  threatened  and  saved  society.  He  was 
the  man  for  the  common  safety.  Many  of  his  colleagues 
deserved  it  as  much  as  he ;  but  popularity  has  its  favorites. 


168  HISTORY    OF    THE 

He  had  too  much  knowledge  of  history  to  believe  in  the  con- 
tinuance of  this  fanaticism  for  his  name.  He  sought  to  mod- 
erate it,  rather  than  inflame  it.  He  designedly  kept  himself 
obscure  before  the  people  and  before  his  colleagues.  He  fore- 
saw the  approaching  day  when  this  popularity  would  demand 
of  him  things  which  he  believed  contrary  to  the  true  interests 
of  the  republic.  He  did  not  wish  that  one  man  should  be 
more  popular  than  the  representative  body  of  the  nation.  Re- 
solved beforehand  to  abdicate  the  public  favor,  it  was  not  pru- 
dent to  excite  it  to  delirium.  He  sometimes  astonished  his 
friends  by  the  change  of  public  opinion  with  regard  to  himself 
which  he  predicted. 

Often,  on  returning  to  his  house,  after  days  or  nights  of  con- 
test, preceded  or  followed  by  acclamations,  which  arose  upon 
his  steps,  and  which  echoed  from  the  boulevards  even  to  the 
interior  of  his  apartments,  he  said  to  his  wife  and  secretaries  : 
"  You  see  what  efforts  the  National  Assembly  and  the  restora- 
tion of  regular  power  to  the  nation  have  cost  me.  Ah  !  well, 
when  the  nation  shall  have  again  found  its  own  empire,  and 
when  the  National  Assembly  shall  be  here,  this  people,  who 
have  been  saved,  will  withdraw  from  me,  and,  perhaps,  will 
accuse  me  as  having  conspired  against  the  Assembly  —  my 
single  object !  " 

They  smiled  with  incredulity  at  these  words,  but  Lamartine 
knew  the  injustice  and  ignorance  of  the  people.  If  they  were 
just  and  intelligent,  there  would  be  no  virtue  in  serving  them. 

Everything  indicated,  at  that  time,  a  final  and  desperate 
attempt  of  the  parties  opposed  to  the  opening  of  the  Assembly. 

XIV. 

The  fourteenth  of  April  was  drawing  near.  The  election 
would  take  place  on  the  twenty-seventh.  The  National  Guard 
of  Paris,  reorganized,  but  not  yet  reunited,  was,  as  to  the  spirit 
which  would  animate  it,  a  problem.  From  day  to  day  the  gov- 
ernment, still  completely  disarmed,  might  have  to  appeal  to  it. 
Would  it  rise  at  its  command  ?  Would  it  merge  into  one  and 
the  same  voice  ?  Would  it  divide  itself  into  two  armies,  —  like 
the  people,  into  two  classes  ?  Would  it  be  an  element  of  civil 
war,  or  an  unanimous  element  of  strength  and  peace  ?  No  one- 
could  yet  know,  but  by  conjecture.  All  would  depend  upon  the 
direction,  more  or  less  politic,  which  the  government  should 
know  how  to  impress  upon  it.     The  ultra  parties  would  try 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  169 

everything  to  prevent  the  calling  out  of  the  National  Guards, 
and  to  subdue  the  government,  before  Paris  should  be  on  foot  to 
defend  the  Assembly.  These  parties  felt  it,  and  they  suffered 
it  to  be  readily  foreseen  by  the  government. 

For  some  days  since,  the  discussions  of  the  council  had  be- 
come bitter  and  animyted.  Strong  differences  of  opinion  were 
betrayed  between  the  majority  and  minority.  The  minister  of 
the  interior,  occupied  with  the  preparations  for  the  elections, 
came  very  rarely  to  the  council,  and  staid  but  a  short  time. 
Louis  Blanc  and  Albert,  avowed  patrons  of  the  delegates  of  the 
Luxembourg,  and  the  thirty  or  forty  thousand  workmen  who 
composed  their  army,  spoke  of  menacing  discontents  and  impe- 
rious demands,  in  the  name  of  this  part  of  the  people.  They 
did  not  justify  them,  but  expressed  them  in  form  of  notices  to 
the  government. 

They  appeared  to  have  been  informed  by  these  men,  and  by 
their  personal  relations  Avith  the  clubs  and  other  centres  of 
action,  of  some  great  popular  movement,  of  a  nature  to  impose 
on  the  majority  the  extreme  wishes  and  the  last  terms  of  the 
multitude. 

At  the  session  of  the  fourteenth  of  April,  which  was  prolonged 
deep  into  the  night,  the  indications  appeared  more  significant ;  and 
the  two  chiefs  of  the  Luxembourg  avowed,  with  a  grief  mingled 
with  reproaches,  that  a  vast  demonstration,  like  that  of  the  seven- 
teenth of  March,  but  more  decided,  in  order  to  obtain  the  ad- 
journment of  the  elections  and  the  satisfaction  of  other  griev- 
ances, would  take  place  on  the  day  after  to-morrow,  Sunday, 
the  sixteenth  of  April. 

The  government  was  more  indignant  than  astonished.  Enough 
rumors,  collected  by  different  members  of  the  majority,  from  all 
sides  of  the  horizon,  had  announced,  for  some  days  past,  an 
attempt  of  the  ultra  parties  to  clear  the  provisional  government 
of  the  principal  members  of  ttie  majority,  and  to  change  the 
minority  into  a  majority  by  the  junction  of  a  certain  number 
of  the  chiefs  of  the  clubs  and  factions.  They  spoke  of  a  com- 
mittee of  public  safety,  who  would  merge  the  dictatorship  into 
the  sovereignty  of  a  mob  of  a  single  portion  of  the  people  ;  who 
would  destroy  the  decree  for  the  elections ;  who  would  concen- 
trate the  government  in  the  capital ;  who  would  exercise  it  for 
some  time  before  giving  it  up  ;  and  who  would  convoke  a  con- 
vention, after  having  purified  the  elections. 

Lamartine  feigned  to  have  learned  this  project  of  a  demon- 
stration for  the  first  time  from  the  lips  of  his  two  colleagues- 

VOL.  n.  15 


170 


HISTORY    OF    THE 


He  did  not  suspect  them  of  participating  in  it ;  still  less  did  he 
suspect  the  minister  of  the  interior  ;  hut  he  thought  that  Albert, 
Louis  Blanc,  and  the  men  of  the  minority  of  the  government, 
might  have  over  the  organizers  of  this  movement  an  influence 
and  an  authority  which  he  had  not  himself  over  this  party  of 
the  revolution.  He  consequently  adjured  them,  with  a  sincere 
grief,  but  with  an  energy  of  language  which  he  purposely 
exaggerated,  to  employ  all  their  moral  influence  over  that  por- 
tion of  the  people  which  they  controlled,  to  prevent  a  demon- 
stration so  untimely,  so  odious  to  the  departments,  so  alarming 
for  the  peace  of  Paris,  and  so  fatal  for  the  reception  of  the 
republic.  He  traced  for  them,  in  rapid  but  striking  sketches, 
the  consequences  of  a  violent  rupture  of  the  unity  of  the  gov- 
ernment, thus  far  preserved  at  the  cost  of  so  many  sacrifices. 
He  showed  them  the  new  dictators,  by  right  of  popular  clearing ; 
themselves  cleared  out,  eight  days  after,  and  the  inevitable 
victims  of  the  people,  after  having  been  their  tools  and  accom- 
plices. He  aflected  more  terror  and  discouragement  than  he 
really  felt,  in  order  to  inspire  it  in  them,  and  to  carry,  through 
them,  terror  and  repentance  into  the  souls  of  the  conspirators 
of  this  movement. 


XV. 

These  colleagues  appeared  moved,  and  decided  to  interpose, 
if  there  was  yet  time,  between  the  leaders  of  the  projected 
demonstration  and  the  government.  Flocon,  who  thought  as 
Lamartine,  although  he  was  more  closely  allied  than  he  with 
the  extreme  parties,  swore  that  he  detested  such  projects,  and 
that  he  would  never  betray,  by  uniting  with  them,  the  faith 
which  the  members  of  the  same  government,  although  some- 
times separated  in  views,  owed  to  each  other.  The  session 
was  finished  by  the  adjurations  of  Lamartine,  addressed  to  those 
without,  rather  than  to  those  within,  and  by  this  frank  declara- 
tion of  Flocon. 

In  the  morning  Lamartine  learned  from  Locis  Blanc  and 
Albert  that  their  endeavors  to  prevent  the  demonst'^ation  had 
been  vain,  but  that  the  subaltern  leaders  had  promised  ^hem  to 
make  efforts  to  moderate  the  movement,  to  disarm  it,  and  to 
take  from  it  all  character  of  violence.  Lamartine  replied  to  his 
colleagues,  with  despair,  that  the  violence  was  in  the  meeting 
itself;  that  the  weight  of  the  mass  and  the  number  was  too 
sufficient  an  arm  against  a  disarmed  govermnent;  that  the  people 


REVOLUTION   OF    1S48.  171 

would  do  violence  to  themselves,  and  would  soon  lose  what  they 
had  acquired,  if  they  afflicted,  constrained,  and  scandalized  the 
republic,  by  days  similar  to  that  of  the  seventeenth  of  March, 
and  perhaps  worse. 

But  the  watchword  had  been  given  ;  the  die  was  cast ;  it  was 
too  late  for  the  chiefs,  whoever  they  were,  to  be  able  to  coun- 
termand and  dissolve  tne  movement.  Louis  Blanc  and  Albert 
appeared  themselves  profoundly  grieved.  Lamartine  and  his 
more  intimate  colleagues  resigned  themselves  to  meet  the  as- 
sault which  was  announced  to  them,  and  delivered  to  God  and 
to  the  people  the  destiny  of  the  morning. 

XVI. 

Yet,  although  unarmed,  the  members  of  the  government, 
being  warned,  did  not  neglect  anything  individually,  by  their 
connections  in  the  difTerent  groups  of  factions,  in  the  national 
workshops,  and  in  the  great  faubourgs  of  Paris,  to  discourage 
the  people  from  the  outrage  to  which  the  subterranean  plots 
of  the  clubs,  and  the  socialist  and  terrorist  conventicles,  were 
endeavoring  to  lead  them.  Gamier  Pages,  Duclerc,  and  Pag- 
nerre,  at  the  office  of  the  minister  of  finances,  Marie  at  the 
national  workshops,  Marrast  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  kept  on  foot 
the  means  of  observ^ation,  influence,  and  voluntary  force,  of 
which  they  could  dispose.  Lamartine  passed  a  part  of  the  night 
in  despatching  emissaries  to  the  faubourg  Saint-Antoine,  the 
quarter  of  the  Pantheon,  and  the  precincts,  to  give  the  alarm 
and  the  watchword  to  good  citizens,  to  masters  of  workshops, 
to  contractors,  to  landlords,  and  to  the  chief  persons  of  hon- 
esty and  influence  in  these  different  quarters.  He  had  called 
also  those  of  whom  he  was  sure,  who  had  been  nominated 
officers  of  the  National  Guard,  and  who  were  not  yet  known 
to  their  companies ;  the  young  men  of  the  schools,  devoted 
to  order,  and  having  influence  over  their  comrades ;  some 
pupils  of  the  Polytechnic  School,  remarkable  for  their  intel- 
ligence, activity  and  bravery,  who  served  him  as  aides-de-camp 
in  critical  circumstances,  such  as  MM.  Jumel,  Baude,  Mare- 
chal,  etc.  He  informed  them  of  the  projects  of  the  morning, 
and  employed  them  all  night  in  warning,  rallying,  and  arming 
the  citizens,  and  to  hold  themselves  ready  to  rush,  at  the  first 
firing  of  the  cannon,  or  the  first  sound  of  the  tocsin,  to  the 
Hotel  de  Ville. 

The  Hotel  de  Ville  w  as  the  position  to  conquer  or  to  defend 


172  HISTORY    OF    THE 

in  all  revolutions,  the  cradle  or  the  tomb  of  governments,  the 
sign  of  victory  or  defeat.  Lamartine  was  resolved  to  shut  him- 
self up  there,  and  there  to  sustain  the  siege  of  the  great  insur- 
rection ;  prepared  to  perish  there,  or  triumph,  according  as  the 
people,  who  had  been  warned,  should  rise  or  should  not  rise,  at 
the  sound  of  the  combat. 

MM.  Marrast,  Buchez,  Recurt,  Barthelemy  Saint-Hilaire,  a 
man  as  considerate  as  intrepid,  Flottard,  Colonel  Rey,  and  the 
principal  chiefs  of  the  administration  of  the  city  of  Paris,  were 
warned.  They  secretly  prepared  against  the  sedition  of  the 
morning.  Their  numerous  friends,  in  these  quarters  and  in 
the  faubourgs,  were  called,  door  by  door,  by  their  care.  Each 
of  them  must  bring  a  company  of  resolute  citizens  to  the  com- 
mon defence.  The  non-existence  of  the  National  Guards,  and 
the  umbrage  which  existed  between  its  different  parties,  did  not 
admit  of  more  general  measures.  Each  could  only  rely  on 
himself  and  his  friends. 

XVIL 

These  measures  taken,  Lamartine  burned  all  the  papers 
which  contained  proper  names,  or  secrets  of  government  at 
home  or  abroad,  of  a  nature  to  serve  as  a  pretext  for  the  ven- 
geance of  the  factions,  if  the  day,  as  was  too  much  to  be  feared, 
should  give  the  victory  to  the  men  of  proscription  and  blood. 
He  threw  himself  then  on  his  bed,  to  take  a  moment's  repose. 

Hardly  had  he  fallen  asleep,  when  the  men  who  were  devoted 
to  his  will  in  the  clubs,  escaped  from  those  nocturnal  assemblies, 
forced  his  door,  and  awoke  him  to  inform  him  of  the  latest  news. 

The  leading  clubs  had  constituted  themselves  in  permanent 
session,  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  evening.  They  were  armed ; 
they  had  munitions  of  war ;  they  had  resolved  to  collect  the 
people  on  the  following  morning  upon  the  Champ-de-Mars  to 
the  number  of  a  hundred  thousand  men ;  to  go  there  themselves 
at  noon,  to  assume  the  direction  of  them ;  to  march  by  the  quays, 
rousing  the  floating  population  of  Paris  in  their  path,  upon 
the  Hotel  de  Ville ;  to  gain  possession  of  it  by  arms ;  to  expel 
the  provisional  government ;  to  decimate  the  members  of  the 
majority  who  were  the  most  repugnant  to  them,  such  as  La- 
martine, Marie,  Garnier  Pages,  Marrast,  and  Dupont  de  I'Eure. 
They  had  nominated,  in  place  of  these  men,  a  committee  of  pub- 
lic safety,  composed  of  Ledru  Rollin,  Louis  Blanc,  Albert,  and 
Arago,  whom  they  wrongfully  supposed  inclined  towards  the 
extreme  party.     They  had  joined  to  them  the  names  of  the 


REVOLUTION    OF    ■JS43. 


173 


principal  chiefs  of  faction,  or  of  the  terrorist  or  socialist  sects, 
who  represented  the  violence  of  government  or  the  destruction 
of  societJ^  After  having  thus  defeated  the  government  which 
restrained  them,  they  would  (strange  to  say !)  march  upon  the 
club  of  Blanqui,  and  disembarrass  themselves  equally  of  this 
rival  tribune,  who  intimidated  them. 

This  last  circumstance  did  not  astonish  Lamartine.  He 
knew  that  Blanqui  was  the  terror  of  the  terrorists  less  popular 
and  less  audacious  than  himself.  It  was  logical  for  them  to 
profit  by  a  single  insurrection  to  free  themselves  at  once  from 
their  adversaries  in  the  moderate  party  of  government  and 
their  enemy  in  the  desperate  party  of  the  demagogue. 

Blanqui,  to  all  appearance,  knew  what  awaited  him.  But 
he  did  not  the  less  pretend  to  associate  himself  with  the  move- 
ment which  was  in  preparation  for  the  morning  against  La- 
martine and  his  friends.  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  Blanqui 
did  not  wish  to  have  the  appearance  of  remaining,  himself  and 
his  party,  behind  those  who  wished  to  advance  in  the  revolu- 
tion. He  thought,  perhaps,  that,  the  movement  once  started,  he 
would  be  able  to  gain  upon  the  steps  of  his  rivals,  and  that  his 
name  would  overwhelm  them  under  a  popularity  collected  from 
the  still  lower  dregs  of  the  people.  He  too  assembled  his  club, 
and  established  himself  in  armed  session,  like  the  other  con- 
spirators. 

XVIII. 

At  the  dawn  of  day,  Lamartine  saw  successive  groups  of  the 
demonstration  advance  in  small  detachments  of  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  men,  preceded  by  drums  and  banners,  marching  by  the 
boulevards.  They  repaired,  conducted  by  some  leaders  better 
dressed,  delegates  of  the  clubs,  to  the  rendezvous  of  the  Champ- 
de-Mars.  The  greater  part  were  entirely  ignorant  of  the  true 
object  of  the  meeting.  The  pretext  was  I  know  not  what  ex- 
amination, preparatory  to  the  appointment  of  candidates  of  the 
workmen. 

From  hour  to  hour,  the  emissaries  who  had  been  stationed 
brought  information  to  Lamartine  respecting  the  state  of  the 
Champ-de-Mar^,  and  the  movements  and  appearance  of  the 
meeting.  It  amounted,  towards  eleven  o'clock,  to  about  thirty 
thousand  men.  They  began  to  speak  there  of  marching  at  two 
o'clock  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville ;  but  the  clubs  were  not  yet  there, 
and  the  masses  appeared  irresolute  and  but  little  animated.  The 
laborers  of  the  national  workshops,  inspired  by  Marie,  and  the 

VOL.  II.  15* 


174  HIiTORY   OF   THE 

numerous  emissaries  of  Lamartine,  decomposed  the  groups  as 
soon  as  they  were  formed,  and  discouraged  them  from  sedition. 
Sobrier  himself  employed  his  friends  in  dissuading  all  excess. 

Affairs  were  in  this  state,  and  Lamartine  was  awaiting,  before 
further  action,  more  precise  information,  and  a  commencement 
of  the  sedition,  when  a  visit  from  the  minister  of  the  interior 
was  announced  to  him.  Lamartine  knew,  as  we  have  just 
seen,  that  the  name  of  Ledru  RoUin  was  among  those  from 
which  the  projected  insurrection  had  composed  its  committee 
of  public  safety.  He  knew,  moreover,  that  the  political  chiefs 
of  the  socialist  sects,  the  men  of  popular  statesmanship,  of 
Barbes'  club,  and  the  Club  of  Clubs,  were  intriguing  round  the 
minister  of  the  interior,  seeking  to  monopolize  his  influence 
and  talent,  and  were  endeavoring  to  draw  him  into  measures 
contrary  to  the  union  of  the  government  and  the  peace  of  the 
republic.  Lamartine,  without  previous  connection  with  his 
colleague,  would  not  have  considered  it  either  loyal  to  suspect 
him,  or  proper  to  inform  him,  of  the  unjust  rumors  spread  about 
him  respecting  his  relations  with  the  conspirators.  He  waited 
for  him.     He  was  not  deceived. 

M.  Ledru  Rollin  informed  him  of  the  intelligence  he  had 
himself  received  during  the  night,  the  project  of  an  armed 
demonstration,  the  provisional  government  purged,  the  com- 
mittee of  public  safety  instituted,  his  own  name  usurped,  in 
spite  of  himself,  by  the  factions,  his  indignation  at  their  believ- 
ing him  capable  of  lending  his  name  to  conspiracies  against 
his  colleagues,  his  firm  resolution  to  die  rather  than  associate 
himself  with  any  treason. 

"  In  a  few  hours,"  added  he,  "  we  shall  be  attacked  by  more 
than  a  hundred  thousand  men.  What  part  shall  we  take  ?  I 
come  to  concert  with  you,  since  I  know  that  you  preserve  cool- 
ness in  the  street,  and  that  dangers  never  trouble  your  heart." 

"  There  are  not  two  parts,"  replied  Lamartine,  rising  and 
extending  his  hand  to  his  colleague,  "  there  is  only  one  to  be 
adopted ;  we  must  fight,  or  deliver  the  country  to  anarchy,  the 
republic  to  adventurers,  the  government  to  shame.  You  are 
the  minister  of  the  interior;  you  are  loyal  and  resolute;  your 
powers  give  ywu  the  right  to  have  the  generale  beat  in  Paris, 
and  to  call  the  National  Guard  to  arms.  Do  not  lose  a  mo- 
ment. Go  and  give  the  order  to  raise  the  legions.  As  for  me, 
I  will  go  and  rouse  the  battalions  of  the  Guard  Mobile,  that  may 
be  in  a  state  to  fight.  I  will  enclose  myself  in  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  with  these  two  or  three  battalions.    I  will  sustain  the  a* 


REVOLUTION    OF    18  i8.  175 

sault  of  the  insurrection.  One  of  two  things  \rill  occur ;  either 
the  National  Guard,  who  have  not  yet  appeared,  will  not  answer 
to  this  call,  and  then  the  Hotel  de  Ville  will  be  carried,  and  I  shall 
perish  at  my  post ;  or  the  call  to  arms  and  the  volleys  of  musketry 
will  make  the  National  Guard  fly  to  the  assistance  of  government, 
attacked  in  my  person  at  the  Hotel  de  ViUe ;  and  then  the  in- 
surrection, taken  between  two  fires,  will  be  drowned  in  its  own 
blood,  the  government  will  be  delivered,  and  an  invincible  or- 
ganized force  AviU  at  length  be  found  for  the  republic  !  I  am 
ready  for  either  event." 

What  was  said  was  done.  The  minister  of  the  interior,  as 
resolved  as  Lamartine  to  try  resistance  and  combat,  went  to 
give  orders  to  beat  the  call  to  arms. 

Lamartine  did  not  again  see  his  colleague  during  the  day. 
He  intrusted  his  wife  to  some  friends,  who  would  place  her  in 
safety,  in  case  he  should  fall.  He  went  out,  accompanied  by 
a  young  pupil  of  Saint-Cyr,  son  of  the  brave  General  de  Ver- 
dieres,  and  by  the  colonel  of  the  staff,  Callier,  a  man  of  cool 
intelligence  and  impassible  bravery,  whom  he  had  known  in 
the  East,  and  whom  he  had  attached  to  the  office  of  foreign 
affairs. 

He  then  repaired  to  the  house  of  General  Duvivier,  at  the 
staff  of  the  Guard  Mobile.  He  entered  alone ;  the  general  was 
absent.  His  chief  of  the  staff  and  his  secretary,  informed  by  La- 
martine of  the  movement  which  was  preparing,  supplied  the 
place  of  the  general,  and  selected  with  him  the  four  most  ex- 
perienced battalions,  and  nearest  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  They 
sent  to  them  the  order  to  advance  immediately  upon  the  place 
de  Greve, 

At  the  moment  when  Lamartine  was  descending  the  stair- 
case, to  go  there  himself,  he  met  General  Duvivier,  who  had 
returned.     He  reentered  with  him. 

General  Duvivier  was  one  of  those  men  whom  no  extremity 
can  surprise,  whom  no  danger  alarms,  since  they  believe  re- 
ligiously in  the  law  of  duty,  and  their  faith  is  reposed  in  God, 
while  their  courage  acts  upon  the  earth ;  a  kind  of  pious  fatal- 
ists, whose  destiny  is  Providence.  The  general  rectified  with 
coolness  some  orders  given  during  his  absence.  He  ordered 
his  horse  to  be  saddled,  and  promised  to  be  found  at  the  head 
of  his  young  soldiers,  whom  he  loved  like  children,  and  whom 
he  led  on  like  heroes.  But  he  had  no  cartridges.  Lamartine 
hastened  to  find  them  at  the  staff  of  the  National  Guard  in  the 
court  of  the  Tuileries. 


176  HISTORY   OF   THE 

XIX. 

General  Courtais  was  absent.  A  slight  altercation  arose  on 
the  subject  of  the  call  to  arms,  beween  Lamartine  and  the  chief 
of  the  staff,  who  refused  to  believe  in  the  movement,  and  who 
was  alarmed  at  the  effect  which  would  be  produced  on  Paris 
by  beating  the  call,  and  by  the  conflict  which  must  be  the  con- 
sequence of  it.  Lamartine  was  irritated  at  the  delay.  General 
Courtais,  on  returning,  put  an  end  to  this  hesitation,  by  declar- 
ing that  the  minister  of  the  interior  had  given  him  the  order  to 
beat  to  arms,  and  that  the  order  should  be  executed.  Lamar- 
tine departed,  followed  by  the  cartridges,  and  repaired  to  the 
Hotel  de  Vilie.  The  gathering  increased  on  the  Champ-de- 
Mars,  and  began  to  be  formed  in  columns  for  the  march. 

During  these  forced  delays.  General  Changarnier,  whom  La- 
martine had  nominated  ambassador  at  Berlin,  had  come  to 
call  upon  the  minister  at  the  Hotel  of  Foreign  Affairs,  to  con- 
verse with  him  respecting  some  details  relative  to  his  instruc- 
tions. Madame  de  Lamartine  received  the  general.  She  told 
him  that  the  presence  and  concurrence  of  a  brave  and  re- 
nowned officer  would  be  truly  of  great  use  at  this  moment  to 
her  husband  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  would  have  a  powerful 
effect  over  the  moral  courage  of  the  young  soldiers.  The 
general,  eager  for  danger,  and  for  an  opportunity  of  showing 
his  zeal,  had  just  arrived  at  the  moment  when  Lamartine  him- 
self entered,  accompanied  by  Colonel  Callier  and  the  chief  of 
his  cabinet.  Payer,  since  a  representative  of  the  people,  always 
attracted  by  danger. 

M.  Marrast,  firm  and  impassible,  awaited  the  announced  in- 
surrection. Lamartine  instructed  him  respecting  the  details 
which  have  just  been  read,  the  order  of  calling  to  arms  the 
National  Guards,  given  by  the  minister  of  the  interior,  and  the 
approaching  arrival  of  the  four  battalions.  General  Changar- 
nier, Marrast,  and  Lamartine,  took  measures  for  the  best  pos- 
sible disposition  of  this  feeble  troop.  It  was  agreed,  that 
instead  of  leaving  these  battalions,  which  numbered  only  four 
hundred  bayonets  each,  on  the  square,  where  they  would  be 
merged  in  the  thousands  of  assailants,  they  should  withdraw 
them  intc  the  courts  and  interior  gardens  of  the  Hotel,  pro- 
tected by  the  gates.  The  general,  taking  the  chief  direction 
of  the  forces  within  the  walls,  was  admirable  for  his  presence 
of  mind,  zeal,  activity  and  confidence.  "  If  you  will  answer 
me  to  hold  out  three  hours,  I  will  answer  for  the  awakening 


REV0LU7I0N   OF    1843.  177 

of  the  good  citizens,  and  for  the  definitive  success  of  the  day," 
said  Lamartine  to  him. 

"  I  will  answer  for  seven  hours,"  replied  General  Changar- 
nier. 

Marrast  had  the  calm  and  patient  courage  of  men  who  have 
read  and  practised  much  the  history  of  revolutions.  His 
friends,  Buchez,  Flottard,  Recurt,  Colonel  Rey,  had  grouped, 
in  the  hotel  or  in  the  neighborhood,  a  battalion  of  volunteers 
of  the  revolution,  called  the  L^jonnais,  and  a  certain  number 
of  volunteers  from  the  neighboring  quarters.  Lamartine  made 
them  enter  succebsively,  harangued  them,  inflamed  them 
with  the  fire  of  the  passion  which  animated  himself  for  the 
integrity  of  the  republic.  General  Changarnier  then  distrib- 
uted them  at  all  the  posts.  Lamartine  had  engaged  him  to 
l)repare  for  the  possibility  of  a  sally  from  behind  the  palace, 
in  order  to  take  the  insurrection  in  the  rear,  at  the  moment 
when  the  National  Guard  should  attack  it  by  the  Pont  Saint 
Michel.  The  battalions  of  the  Guard  Mobile  arrived  one  by 
one.  They  saluted  Lamartine  with  acclamations.  He  had 
formed  them.  These  youths  loved  him  as  a  figure  seen  and 
heard  during  the  first  days  of  the  revolution;  as  their  creator, 
and  their  patron  since  in  the  government. 


XX. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  numerous  messages  sent  by  Lamar- 
tine to  the  schools,  to  the  precincts,  to  the  workmen  of  the 
quarries  of  Belleville,  and  to  the  Pantheon,  were  carried  to 
hasten  the  arrival  of  the  good  citizens.  Other  messages,  com- 
ing from  the  Champ-de-Mars,  brought  the  intelligence  that  the 
insurgents  were  already  defiling  in  vast  columns  upon  the  quay 
de  Chaillot.  They  nowhere  heard  the  drums  beating  to  arms. 
Lamartine,  disturbed  at  the  hesitation  which  he  had  witnessed 
at  the  staff,  communicated  his  inquietude  to  General  Changar- 
nier and  M.  Marrast.  All  three  agreed  to  give  new  orders 
through  the  mayor  of  Paris.  They  were  told  that  counter 
orders  had  been  given,  after  the  departure  of  Lamartine  from 
the  Tuileries,  and  hence  had  arisen  the  delay  with  which  this 
call  had  been  beaten  in  the  different  quarters,  and  the  necessity 
of  the  new  orders  sent  by  M.  Marrast  from  the  Hotel  de  Viile. 
However  it  might  be,  the  citizens  rushed  from  all  quarters  to 
arms. 

Lamartine  henceforth  certain  that  the  minister  of  the  inte- 


178'  HISTORY   OF   THE 

rior  himself  had  given  this  order,  and  engaged  his  responsi- 
bility in  the  cause  of  the  unity  and  integrity  of  the  government, 
with  policy,  adopted  the  unity  of  the  government  for  the  watch- 
word of  the  day,  and  of  all  his  harangues  to  the  troops,  the 
deputations,  and  the  armed  people,  who  filled  the  square.  The 
government  torn  in  two,  within  eleven  days  of  the  elections, 
appeared  to  him  to  destroy  the  unity  of  the  elections  and  the 
unity  of  \he  republic  itself.  He  stifled  his  resentments  and  his 
suspicion  in  his  heart,  so  that  only  the  cry  of  the  apparent  or  real 
concord  between  all  parties  of  the  republican  opinion  should  be 
heard.  The  brave  Chateau-Renaud,  having  entered  the  Ho- 
tel de  Ville,  at  the  head  of  a  column  of  armed  volunteers,  who 
called  with  loud  cries  for  Lamartine  to  pass  them  in  review  in 
the  court,  he  descended,  followed  by  Payer,  and  spoke  to 
them. 

"  Citizens,"  said  he  to  them,  "  they  have  announced  to-day, 
to  the  provisional  government,  a  day  of  danger  for  the  repub- 
lic ;  we  were  sure,  beforehand,  that  this  day  of  danger  would 
be  a  day  of  triumph  for  the  country  and  for  order.  I  know 
from  recent  experience,  and  I  can  read  it  upon  the  faces  of  most 
of  you,  from  the  energy,  at  once  intrepid  and  moderate,  that 
lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  heart  of  the  armed  citizens  of  the 
capital,  that  we  can  rely  upon  them.  France,  which  is  repre- 
sented for  the  moment  in  the  government,  has  no  need  of  any 
other  guard,  of  any  other  army,  than  this  voluntary  army, 
which  is  spontaneously  formed,  not  at  the  first  sound  of  the 
drum,  for  you  were  armed  before  the  call  to  arms,  but  which 
is  formed,  of  its  own  accord,  at  the  first  rumor  of  danger,  in 
behalf  of  the  country  and  public  order. 

"  Citizens,  the  whole  provisional  government  ought  to  be 
this  day  the  watchword  of  the  armed  and  unarmed  population 
of  Paris  :  for  it  is  against  the  integrity,  against  the  indivisibil- 
ity, of  the  provisional  government,  that  the  movement  against 
which  you  have  come  to  form  for  us  a  rampart  with  your 
breasts  has,  they  tell  us,  been  conceived. 

"  They  hope,  by  means  of  these  divisions  excited  among  us, 
to  divide  the  country,  as  well  as  the  government.  No  possible 
division  exists  among  its  members.  If  some  differences  of 
opinion,  such  as  are  naturally  met  with  in  the  great  councils 
of  a  country,  can  be  found  in  the  administration,  unity  exists 
in  the  same  love  of  the  republic,  in  the  same  devotion,  which 
animates  them  towards  Paris  and  France ! 

"  This  union  is  the  syribol  of  that  of  all  the  citizens  ! 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  179 

"  Permit  me  to  express  to  you,  not  in  my  name,  but  in  tho 
name  of  the  unanimity  of  my  colleagues,  the  gratitude  pro- 
foundly felt,  not  by  the  provisional  government,  but  by  all 
France,  for  whom  this  day  would  have  been  a  day  of  calamity 
and  civil  war,  if  the  government  had  been  divided  ;  but  which, 
thanks  to  your  energy,  will  be  for  her  a  day  of  the  definitive 
and  peaceful  triumph  of  these  new  institutions  which  we  wish 
to  restore  inviolable  and  entire  to  the  National  Assembly,  which 
will  be  the  supreme  unity  of  the  country.     ( Fe\  e  la  Eipublique  ') 

*'  Citizens,  yet  a  word  ! 

"  At  the  epoch  of  the  first  republic,  there  was  a  fatal  word 
which  lost  all,  and  which  induced  the  best  citizens  to  destroy 
each  other  from  misunderstanding  each  other.  That  word  was 
distrust.  And  yet  that  word  was  then  explained  by  the  situ- 
ation of  the  country,  menaced  by  a  coalition  abroad,  and  by 
the  enemies  she  had  at  home. 

"  To-day,  when  the  single  proclamation  of  our  principles  of 
fraternal  democracy,  of  respect  for  governments,  has  opened  in 
all  Europe  the  horizon  of  France,  and  has  made  the  nations 
seek  our  friendship  instead  of  seeking  our  blood  ;  to-day,  when 
the  republic  is  accepted  everywhere,  without  opposition,  at 
home,  and  promises  to  all  property  security  and  liberty,  there 
is  but  a  single  word  which  corresponds  to  this  situation,  and 
that  word  is,  confidence  !     Inscribe  that  word  upon  your  ban-  \ 

ners  and  your  hearts  !  Let  it  be  the  watchword  among  all  the 
citizens  and  all  the  parties  of  the  empire,  and  the  republic  is 
saved. 

"  The  provisional  government  gives  you  the  example,  by  the 
well-merited  confidence  which  each  of  us  reposes  in  his  col- 
leagues, and  which  he  receives  from  them  in  turn  !  It  gives, 
to-day,  the  proof  of  it,  by  refusing,  at  all  risks,  to  disunite  and 
separate  from  itself  any  of  its  members,  who  make  its  strength 
by  their  unity.  The  indivisibility  of  the  provisional  govern- 
ment must  thus  be  the  civic  conquest  of  this  day.  Pans  and 
the  departments,  reassured  as  to  the  strength  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  as  to  the  attachment  which  you  bear  it,  will  unite, 
as  you  do,  and  as  we  do,  for  the  safety  of  the  republic,  and  will 
restore  in  safety  to  the  National  Assembly  the  deposit  of  the 
country,  which  the  people  of  the  twenty-fourth  of  February 
have  intrust  3d  to  our  hands. 

"  This  confidence  which  I  recommend  to  you,  citizens,  is  the 
war-cry,  is  the  sentiment,  which  I  have  heard  go  forth  upon  all 
the  days  of  combat ;  even  here,  on  this  staircase,  in  these 


180  HISTORY   OF   THE 

courts,  from  the  lips  of  the  wounded  during  the  struggle  of  the 
people  and  the  throne,  whence  might  arise  the  anarchy  of  the 
people  !  Yes,  I  have  heard  it  proceed  from  the  lips  of  those 
who  expired  here  for  the  republic,  and  who  seemed  to  bequeath 
you  thus,  in  this  last  injunction,  the  saving  word  of  the  new 
republic  and  the  country." 

XXI. 

These  words  called  forth  a  unanimous  cry  of  devotion  from 
aU  the  steps  of  the  staircases,  from  all  the  courts,  and  all  the 
galleries,  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  Victory  was  in  that  cry. 
Lamartine  heard  it  for  two  hours  on  the  lips  of  aU  the  groups 
of  citizen  volunteers,  of  workmen,  of  the  Guard  Mobile,  and 
the  pupils  of  the  schools,  whom  he  harangued  successively 
thirty  or  forty  times  at  this  critical  moment.  He  aflected 
always  to  comprehend  the  whole  provisional  government  in  his 
addresses,  and  thus  to  destroy,  beforehand,  all  germs  of  division 
which  might  spring  up  from  this  day.  He  did  so  to  take  away 
all  pretext  for  civil  war,  and  for  the  recriminations  which  might 
lead  to  it.  The  enthusiasm  for  him  was  so  ardent  and  so 
unanimous  this  day,  among  the  battalions,  the  people,  and  the 
corps  of  volunteers,  who  crowded  the  palace  and  the  square, 
that  if  he  had  denounced  a  conspiracy,  and  even  demanded 
vengeance,  proscription,  or  a  dictatorship,  they  would  have  fol- 
lowed where  he  led.  But  by  avowing  the  divisions,  and  then 
delivering  his  colleagues  to  the  suspicions  of  the  people,  he  did 
not  conceal  from  himself  that  he  would  have  betrayed  the 
republic,  and  have  destroyed  his  country. 

In  the  mean  time,  from  a  window  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  he 
looked  out  upon  the  square,  without  yet  knowing  which  arrived 
first,  or  in  greatest  numbers,  the  battalions  of  the  National 
Guard,  or  the  insurgents  of  the  Champ-de-Mars. 

A  column  of  about  twenty-five  or  thirty  thousand  men,  con- 
ducted by  the  most  furious  clubbists,  and  by  some  socialist  chiefs, 
had  just  debouched  by  the  Pont  Royal,  and  struck  against  a 
numerous  column  of  National  Guards,  which  General  Courtais 
had  ranged  in  order  of  battle  under  the  walls  of  the  Louvre. 
They  had  not  come  to  blows,  but  the  struggle  had  been  tumult- 
uous ;  looks,  cries,  hostile  gestures,  had  been  exchanged.  The 
National  Guards  had  allowed  the  insurgents  to  pass,  and  had 
contented  themselves  with  dividing  them,  and  following  them 
in  their  procession  towards  the  Hotel  de  VUle,     Thus  were 


HEVOLITTION    OF    1848.  ISl 

two  annies  marching  on  the  same  line  in  silence,  and,  as  it 
were,  mutually  observing  each  other.  Already  the  first  groups 
of  this  column  of  the  Champ-de-Mars,  preceded  by  flags  and 
some  men  in  red  caps,  began  to  debouch  slowly  on  the  place  de 
Greve. 

At  this  moment  a  forest  of  bayonets  glistened  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Seine,  at  the  end  of  the  Pont  Saint-Michel.  These 
were  thirty  or  forty  thousand  National  Guards  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  river,  running  at  the  charging  step  to  the  appeal  of 
Lamartine  and  Marrast.  The  size  of  the  bridge  was  not  suf- 
ficient for  them  to  debouch.  They  threw  themselves  in  close 
column  upon  the  square,  with  cries  of  "  Vive  la  Republique  ! " 
"  Vive  le  Gouvernement !"  They  barred  the  quay  against  tAventy 
or  thirty  thousand  insurgents.  These  remained  immovable, 
undecided,  and  in  consternation,  at  the  comer  of  the  place  de 
Greve,  not  being  able  to  advance,  nor  recoil,  nor  to  receive  in 
their  rear  their  reinforcements  from  the  Champ-de-Mars,  inter- 
cepted by  the  legions  under  arms  from  the  Champs-Elysees  to 
the  extremity  of  the  quay  Lepelletier.  The  legions  on  the  left 
bank  ranged  themselves  in  order  of  battle  on  the  square.  The 
legions  of  the  precincts,  of  Belleville,  of  Bercy,  of  the  faubourg 
du  Temple,  of  the  faubourg  Saint-Antoine,  and  of  all  the 
streets  of  the  right  bank,  arrived  at  the  same  moment  from  all 
the  quays,  and  all  the  outlets  of  the  great  arteries  of  Paris, 
with  running  step  and  cries  of  enthusiasm.  These  legions 
inundated  with  torrents  of  bayonets  all  the  streets  and  squares 
from  the  arsenal  to  the  Louvre.  In  three  hours  Paris  was  on 
foot  in  arms.  Not  only  was  the  victory  of  the  conspirators 
impossible,  but  even  attack  was  folly. 

Lamartine  thanked  General  Changarnier,  whose  assistance 
was  henceforth  needless.  He  begged  him  to  go  and  inform  his 
wife  of  the  triumph  of  the  good  citizens,  and  the  restoration  of 
the  public  force,  — to  this  time  a  problem,  now  a  certainty. 

General  Duvivier  was  on  horseback  in  the  square,  in  the 
midst  of  all  his  battalions  of  Guard  Mobile,  which  he  had  led 
forth.  Two  hours  were  thus  passed  in  an  imposing  silence, 
as  if  it  were  sufficient  for  the  National  Guards  to  show  to  the 
sun  their  two  hundred  thousand  bayonets  to  confound  all 
thought  of  conspiracy  and  anarchy. 

Lamartine,  the  only  member  of  the  government  present  with 
Marrast,  till  four  o'clock,  received  deputations  from  all  the 
corps,  and  harangued  them,  sometimes  from  the  windows, 
sometimes  in  the  courts,  and  upon  the  steps  of  the  staircases. 

VOL.  II.  16 


182  HISTdRY   OF   THE 

The  twenty  thousani  insurgents  of  the  Champ-de-Mars,  col- 
lected at  the  end  of  the  quays,  defiled  sadly,  in  the  midst  of  the 
hooting  of  the  people,  to  go  and  conceal  themselves  in  their 
disconcerted  clubs. 

Two  hundred  thousand  bayonets  then  defiled  before  the 
Hotel  de  Ville,  with  cries  of  ^'Vive  Lamartiiie!  a  las  les  com- 
imcnistes  I " 

A  deputation  of  workmen  of  the  Champ-de-Mars  was  intro- 
duced into  the  palace,  after  the  procession,  under  pretence  of 
doing  homage  by  their  contribution  of  patriotism.  M.  Buchez 
and  his  colleagues  addressed  them  in  severe  language.  La- 
martine  did  not  speak  to  them ;  he  was  occupied  at  this  mo- 
ment in  the  council-hall  with  writing  some  orders  to  the 
National  Guards  of  the  precincts,  for  the  security  of  the  night. 
He  saw  his  two  colleagues,  Louis  Blanc  and  Albert,  enter.  He 
continued  to  write,  without  saluting  them.  He  heard  them 
murmur  against  the  omnipotence  of  those  who  had,  without 
concerted  deliberation,  and  by  their  sole  authority,  caused  the 
drum  to  beat  to  arms,  repulsed  a  demonstration  of  the  people, 
called  out  the  National  Guards,  and  addressed  harsh  and  severe 
words  to  a  deputation  of  the  people.  Lamartine,  irritated, 
could  not  conceal  from  himself  against  whom  these  murmurs 
were  directed.  He  turned  round,  threw  down  his  pen,  rose, 
and  approaching  his  two  colleagues,  replied  to  them  for  the  first 
time  with  pride  and  anger  but  ill-restrained.  The  two  mem- 
bers of  the  minority  retired,  and  went  to  carry  their  complaints 
to  MM.  Buchez  and  Recurt,  in  another  hall.  Lamartine,  after 
having  provided  for  the  security  of  the  night,  by  his  orders  to 
the  legions,  went  out  by  a  secret  door  from  the  Hotel  de  Ville, 
to  escape  an  ovation  from  the  National  Guard  and  the  people. 
With  his  face  covered  by  his  cloak,  he  sank  into  the  narrow, 
crooked  and  deserted  streets,  that  wind  behind  the  palace. 
A  carriage  was  brought  to  him.  He  mounted  without  being 
recognized,  and  ordered  the  driver  to  take  him  to  the  rue  de  la 
Chaussee  d'Antin,  where  his  wife  was  waiting  the  issue  of  the 
day. 

Five  times  during  this  passage  the  carriage  in  which  he 
was  concealed  was  stopped,  at  the  openings  of  the  rue  Saint 
Antoine,  the  rue  du  Temple,  the  rue  Saint  Denis,  the  rue  Saint 
Martin,  and  the  rue  Montmartre,  by  columns  of  from  ten  to 
twenty  thousand  men  of  the  National  Guards,  some  in  uniform, 
others  in  the  costume  of  workmen,  all  armed,  who  made  the 
pavement  of  the  streets  echo  with  the  clang  of  their  measured 


REVOLUTIDN    OF    1648.  183 

Steps.  These  co  umns  passed,  interrupting  a  majestic  silence 
with  cries,  shouted  at  equal  intervals,  of  "Vive  la  reptibliqtce  ! 
Vive  Lamartine !  ci  bos  les  communist es !"  These  military 
corps,  proceeding  from  every  threshold,  reassured  the  citizens, 
the  women  and  children,  crowding  to  the  doors  and  windows. 
They  were  far  from  suspecting  that  the  man  whose  name  they 
were  shouting  to  the  sky,  as  a  national  war-cry,  heard  these 
cries  from  the  bottom  of  that  closed  carriage  whose  passage 
they  had  intercepted. 

Lamartine  could  not  rejoin  his  wife  till  the  close  of  the  day. 
This  was  the  happiest  day  of  his  political  life.  The  factions 
were  more  than  vanquished,  they  were  discouraged.  The 
people  had  spoken  his  word.  This  word  was  the  presage  of 
that  which  the  nation  was  about  to  repeat  at  the  elections. 
Paris  had  risen  in  arms,  without  distinction  of  rank  or  fortune, 
and  these  arms  had  been  united  in  unanimous  fasces  to  pro- 
tect the  republic,  moderate  government,  order,  property,  and 
civilization.     The  social  world  had  been  regained. 


XXII. 

The  members  of  the  majority  of  the  government  had  passed 
this  great  day  in  permanent  session  at  the  hotel  of  the  finances, 
in  order  to  provide  for  events,  and  not  to  be  carried  ofT  by 
the  same  party  stroke.  They  united  to  take  their  repast  to- 
gether, at  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  at  the  house  of  the  minis- 
ter of  justice,  M.  Cremieux.  They  embraced  like  shipwrecked 
mariners  who  have  regained  the  shore. 

During  the  repast,  deputations  from  the  National  Guards,  for 
whose  legions  the  day  had  not  sufficed  to  defile  before  the 
Hotel  de  Ville,  came  to  ask  them  to  proceed  by  torch-light  to 
the  place  de  Greve.  They  consented,  and  repaired  there. 
Lamartine,  alone,  overcome  by  weariness,  and  exhausted  in 
voice,  was  not  presen.^. 

The  legions,  some  of  which  did  not  number  less  than  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty  thousand  men,  under  arms,  traversed  Paris 
a  portion  of  the  night,  with  cries  of  "  Vive  Lamartine  I  a  bos 
les  convnunistes  .'"  No  disorder  saddened  this  awaking  of  the 
true  people.  Security  entered  with  this  cry  into  the  dwellings 
and  minds  of  the  citizens.  The  clubs  of  communists  and  dem- 
agogues were  in  consternation,  deserted  and  silent.  Some 
groups  of  children,  alwa  /s  the  corrupted  echo  of  the  popular 
voice,  went  to  shout  the  cries  of  Vive  Lamartine !  d  bos  Cabet ! 


184  HISTORY    OF   THE 

under  the  windows  of  this  sectarian  chief.  Lamartine,  when 
informed  of  it,  imraediately  sent  to  disperse  these  injurious 
groups.  He  wrote  to  Cabet  to  offer  him  an  asylum,  for  himself 
and  his  family,  at  his  own  house. 

Such  was  the  da3'-  of  the  sixteenth  of  April :  the  first  great 
cmip  d'etat  of  the  people  itself  against  conspirators,  dema- 
gogues, dictators,  and  the  barbarians  of  civilization.  Paris 
breathed,  and  France  had  the  consciousness  of  her  safety. 

But  the  sixteenth  of  April  was  only  an  accidental  symptom. 
The  majority  of  government  wished  to  know  if  this  symptom 
would  be  revived  in  order  at  their  voice,  and  if  the  spontaneous 
fusion  of  all  the  elements  of  the  National  Guard  would  present 
a  solid  and  fixed  point  of  opinion  and  strength  to  the  republic. 
A  public  cry  demanded  a  general  review  of  all  the  bayonets 
voluntarily  devoted  to  protect  the  country  and  society.  The 
people  of  Paris  began  to  desire  the  return  of  the  troops  within 
their  walls.  The  vast  majority  of  the  government  suffered 
from  the  absence  of  the  army.  They  desired  to  have  it  return 
insensibly  into  the  national  framework  of  society,  from  v/hich 
fatality  and  prudence  had  temporarily  removed  it.  They 
wished  it  to  be  recalled  with  enthusiasm,  and  not  to  be  im- 
posed by  constraint.  They  sought  an  occasion  to  accustom 
the  eye  of  the  people  to  the  presence,  the  pomp,  and  the  love 
of  the  troops.  The  government,  that  day  unanimous  in  this 
opinion,  appointed  a  general  review  of  all  the  National  Guards 
of  Paris,  of  the  precincts,  even  of  the  neighboring  towns,  of  the 
Guard  Mobile,  and  the  regiments  of  artiller}\  infantry  and  cav- 
alry, in  the  sight  of  Paris. 

This  review  would  take  place  on  the  twenty-first  of  April, 
under  the  name  of  the  Review  of  Fraternity. 

xxm. 

The  members  of  the  provisional  government,  and  the  minis- 
ters, stationed  themselves  at  the  break  of  day  upon  the  first 
steps  of  a  platform  raised  behind  the  Triumphal  Arc  de 
I'Etoile.  The  vernal  sun  illuminated  the  vast  avenue  which 
extends  from  this  arch  of  Napoleon  to  the  palace  of  the  Tuile- 
ries.  It  was  reflected  from  the  cinnon,  the  helmets,  the  cuirass- 
es, and  the  bayonets  of  the  Nutional  Guards,  and  the  troops, 
ranged  by  batteries,  squadrons  and  battalions,  over  the  whole 
causeway  of  the  Champs-Elysees,  and  upon  the  place  de  la 
Concorde.    The  two  columns  of  the  armed  people,  dividing  there, 


P3 

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»     RARY 
'  THE 
UNIVERSh  /  OF  ILLINOIS 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  185 

extended  without  interruption,  the  one,  by  the  quays,  as  far  as 
Bercy,  the  other,  by  the  boulevards,  as  far  as  the  JBastille.  It 
was  an  entire  capital,  with  its  neighboring  provinces,  descended 
from  their  firesides  into  a  camp.  A  loud  and  joyful  murmur, 
mingled  with  the  clash  of  arms  and  the  neighing  of  horses, 
arose  from  this  multitude.  All  faces  breathed  the  enthusiasm 
and  happiness  of  a  regained  social  order.  The  people  had  be- 
come the  army ;  the  army  had  become  the  people.  No  mark 
of  impatience  or  weariness  was  manifested  in  this  gathering, 
unexampled  since  the  great  migrations  of  nations. 

At  the  voice  of  the  government  these  masses  put  themselves 
in  motion  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning.  They  defiled,  by 
battalions,  to  the  sound  of  drums  and  military  bands  of  music, 
before  the  platform,  where  the  members  of  the  government, 
standing,  saluted,  in  turn,  the  legions  and  regiments,  and  dis- 
tributed to  them  the  new  flags  of  the  republic.  These  legions, 
some  of  which  did  not  number  less  than  thirty  thousand  men 
under  arms,  were  followed,  as  in  the  march  of  caravans,  by  a 
vast  throng  of  unarmed  people,  old  men,  women,  and  children, 
the  complement  of  the  human  family,  attached  to  the  steps  of 
armed  fathers  and  sons. 

They  had  stripped  the  trees  and  the  gardens  of  the  environs 
of  Paris  of  branches  and  lilacs,  to  decorate  the  muskets  and 
cannon.  The  bayonets  were  intwined  with  flowers ;  nature 
veiled  the  arms.  A  vast,  inexhaustible  river  of  steel  and  of 
foliage,  floating  at  the  end  of  the  muskets,  wound  over  the 
whole  horizon  of  the  Champs-Elysees.  On  approaching  the 
platform,  before  which  this  river  of  men  divided  into  two 
branches,  to  flow  more  rapidly,  the  women,  the  children  and 
the  soldiers,  tore  these  decorations  from  their  musket-barrels, 
and  threw  them,  like  a  rain  of  flowers,  upon  the  heads  of  the 
members  of  the  government,  A  loud  cry  of  *'  Vive  la  Repub- 
ligue,  Vive  le  gouvernement  provisoire,  vive  Varmee!  "  was  raised, 
without  interruption,  from  the  battalions  and  the  people.  The 
cries  of  "  Fife  La7«ar^iw€"  constantly  predominated  in  these 
voices,  and  were  mingled  with  cries  of  '•  a  bos  les  comimmistes." 
The  popularity  of  this  name,  instead  of  being  worn  out  among 
the  people  by  so  much  anguish  and  misery  of  the  times,  ap- 
peared to  be  strengthened  and  made  universal  in  public  senti- 
ment. The  people  of  the  country  and  the  departments  pointed 
out  Lamartine,  and  saluted  him  with  the  most  enthusiastic  ac- 
clamations. The  sixteenth  of  April  had  made  him  in  their 
eyes  a  sort  of  personification  of  defended  and  regained  society. 

VOL.  u.  16* 


186 


HISTORY    OF    THE 


Behind  these  united  battalions  marched  legions  of  poor  old 
men  and  women,  bearing  their  little  infants  in  their  arms. 
Rustic  carts  carried  even  the  infirm  and  indigent  of  the  vil- 
lagers. It  viras  from  the  bosom  of  these  groups  in  rags  that  arose 
the  most  passionate  cries  of  war  to  disorder,  hatred  to  com- 
munists, of  "  Vive  Lamartine !  —  Vive  la  Repiiblique ! "  The  feel- 
ing of  society  is  so  divine,  so  instinctive  in  man,  that  it  inter- 
ests in  the  retstablishment  of  social  order,  of  property,  and  the 
family,  even  those  who  appear  to  have  the  least  interest  in  its 
cause,  and  to  be  the  most  destitute  of  its  benefits.  Tears 
flowed  from  the  eyes  of  this  people,  and  moistened  the  eyes 
of  the  spectators.  The  cries  redoubled  at  the  appearance  of 
those  fine  regiments  of  the  line,  who  inclined  their  swords 
before  the  government,  and  who  appeared  to  have  regained 
their  place  in  the  recOTciled  family. 

The  day  declined,  before  this  armed  people,  although  march- 
ing at  the  charging  step,  and  thirty  or  forty  abreast,  could  flow 
before  the  Triumphal  Arch.  The  procession  continued  by 
torch-light  till  eleven  o'clock  at  night.  Fourteen  hours  was 
not  enough  to  exhaust  this  river  of  men,  of  steel,  of  flowers 
and  torches,  flowing  among  the  trees  of  the  Champs-Elysees. 
Two  legions,  forming  together  fifty  thousand  bayonets,  were 
obliged  to  adjourn  their  review  till  another  day.  The  most 
experienced  military  men  calculated  that  three  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  bayonets  or  swords  had  defiled,  between  these 
two  suns,  under  the  eyes  of  the  government.  Paris  returned 
to  its  dwellings  with  the  feeling  of  the  restoration  of  the  coun- 
try and  society. 

XXIV. 

The  day  after  the  morrow,  tw'o  legions  of  the  centre  of  Paris, 
who  had  not  been  passed  in  review,  from  want  of  time,  mur- 
mured, and  demanded  to  perform  their  act  of  adhesion  to  the 
provisional  government,  by  defiling  before  it,  on  the  place 
Vendome. 

The  members  of  the  government  assembled  at  the  oflfice  of 
the  minister  of  justice,  and  appeared  upon  the  balcony;  their 
presence  was  saluted  by  a  unanimous  shovit  of  "  Vive  le  gouv- 
ernement !"  where,  above  all,  on  this  day,  predominated  the 
cry  of  "  Vive  Lamartine  ! "  His  colleagues  themselves  showed 
him  by  the  hand  to  the  legions,  who  defiled  with  this  cry. 

He  descended  and  passed  with  them  into  the  ranks  of  this 
army,  which  covered  the   square.     Although  he  affected  to 


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35 
P3 

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to 


f 


1   jRAHY 
^  THE 
UNIVERSli/  Of  ILLINOIS 


KEVOLTJTION    OF    1848.  1S7 

march  in  the  last  rank  of  the  memhers  of  the  government,  and 
the  ministers,  his  presence  was  a  triumph  at  every  step.  His 
name  was  nearly  the  only  cry  of  this  armed  centre  of  Paris. 
A  thrill  ran  through  the  legions  at  his  approach  ;  they  followed 
him  with  enthusiasm  when  he  had  passed.  Hands,  fevered 
with  love,  touched  his  hands  and  garments.  He  heard  low 
voices  murmur  in  his  ears  words  which  invited  him  to  the  dic- 
tatorship, and  which  tempted  him  with  a  truly  popular  royalty. 
Having  returned  to  the  office  of  justice,  and  stationed  at  a 
balcony  to  see  this  armed  people  defile,  the  same  cries  arose, 
without  interruption,  to  his  ears.  He  withdrew,  confused  at  a 
fanaticism  which  he  only  owed  to  the  caprice  of  the  multitude  ; 
humiliated  at  a  predilection  which  was  as  much  due  to  his 
colleagues  as  to  himself.  But  popular  instinct  does  not  choose ; 
it  hurries  forward,  and  is  often  at  fault.  Lamartine  began  this 
day  to  be  troubled  at  an  excess  of  public  favor,  which  he  was 
resolved  not  to  settle  exclusively  on  a  single  man,  that  he  might 
restore  it  all  to  the  representation  of  the  country  and  to  the 
republic.  He  felt  that  in  a  few  days  it  would  be  more  difficult 
to  abdicate  this  power  of  the  mob  than  to  usurp  it. 


I 


BOOK  XIV. 


I. 

All  became  easy  for  the  government  after  the  date  of  the 
sixteenth  of  April.  The  factious  and  ambitious  had  been  con- 
vinced of  their  weakness.  The  surprise  projected  by  the  clubs, 
to  bear  off  the  dictatorship,  and  to  perpetuate  and  deprave  the 
revolutionary  government,  had  been  baffled.  The  parties  were 
not  resigned,  but  they  trembled.  They  gained  in  bitterness 
what  they  had  lost  in  hope.  The  clubs  became  conspirators  ; 
the  journals  envenomed  the  rare  but  bitter  discussions  of  gov- 
ernment. An  insurrection  of  workmen,  inflamed  by  the  des- 
perate and  factious  men  of  Paris,  attempted  at  Rouen  what 
had  failed  in  the  capital.  Energetically  repressed  by  the  Na- 
tional Guard  and  by  the  army,  this  sedition  and  the  measures 
taken  for  its  suppression  became  the  subject  of  violent  recrimi- 
nations. M.  Arago  defended,  with  indignation  and  courage, 
the  general  officers  accused  by  the  petitions  of  the  dema- 
gogues. 

But  the  hour  of  the  National  Assembly  approached.  The 
majority  of  the  government  temporized.  Lamartine,  with  his 
eyes  intently  fixed  upon  the  day  of  the  elections,  neglected, 
from  this  moment,  all  dissensions  as  to  details,  and  even  as  to 
principles,  which  might  arise  between  the  majority  and  minor- 
ity of  the  government.  He  dreaded  more  than  ever  any  vio- 
lent collision,  which  might  compromise  the  only  true  object  of 
his  efibrts,  and  of  the  efforts  of  the  majority :  the  convocation 
of  a  National  Assembly,  without  civil  war.  "  I  have  tried  to 
represent  the  resistance  of  the  true  democracy  against  the  odi- 
ous spirit  of  the  demagogue,  in  the  government,"  said  he  : 
*'  now  I  wish  to  become  the  oil  which  calms  all  irritations 
rising  from  conflicting  opinions,  and  which  prevents  all  ruptures." 

One  day,  during  his  absence,  the  minister  of  the  interior, 
having  made  a  division  with  his  colleagues,  and  retired  with 
the  resolution  of  offering  his  resignation,  Lamartine  proposed 


HISTORY    OF    THE    REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  189 

himself  as  mediator.  He  went  himself  to  the  house  of  the 
minister  of  the  interior.  He  represented  to  him,  from  the 
common  interest  of  the  government  and  the  country,  the  dan- 
ger of  a  coUisiDn,  which  might  lead  to  anarchy,  and  brought 
about  an  accommodation. 

II. 

They  were  on  the  eve  of  the  elections  ;  the  government  had 
deliberated  a  long  time  whether  it  should  present  itself  before 
the  National  Assembly  with  a  plan  of  constitution  ready  pre- 
pared, or  whether  it  should  content  itself  with  abdicating,  and 
abstain  at  the  outset  from  any  attempt  which  might  resemble 
a  continued  dictatorship,  or  a  usurpation  of  the  national  sover- 
eignty. Dupont  de  I'Eure,  a  man  as  penetrating  as  sagacious, 
did  not  cease  to  conjure  Lamartine  to  occupy  himself  with 
this  plan  of  a  constitution.  The  opinion  of  Lamartine  on  this 
subject  was  conformable  to  that  of  Dupont  de  I'Eure.  He 
thought  that  the  debates  respecting  a  constitution  would  b« 
long  and  tumultuous  for  an  assembly  ;  that  they  would  waste 
the  time  which  might  be  better  employed  in  providing  for  the 
dangers  and  multiplied  emergencies  of  the  inauguration  of  a 
democratic  government ;  that  a  constitution,  that  is  to  say,  the 
two  or  three  principles  of  a  government,  ought  to  be  written  in 
a  few  lines,  as  the  lapidary  record  of  a  revolution  and  a  civ- 
ilization ;  that  the  organic  laws  of  this  constitution  ought  then 
to  be  flexible,  consecutive,  easily  modified,  and  drafted  at  lei- 
sure, according  to  the  emergency  and  the  occasion,  without 
having  the  character  of  the  immutability  of  the  constitution 
itself. 

He  had,  consequently,  reduced  to  five  or  six  axioms  the  sub- 
stance of  a  constitution.  He  desired  that  this,  in  substance, 
^hould  be  voted  with  acclamations,  in  two  or  three  sessions, 
•v.nd  that  the  government  should  emanate  immediately  from  the 
voted  constitution. 

Lamartine  was  convinced  that  the  unity  of  the  executive 
power,  deposited  in  a  presidency,  in  a  director,  or  in  a  council, 
would  be  the  ultimate  form  which  the  republic  would  adopt, 
after  the  period  of  its  creation.  But  for  the  first  period, 
destined  to  accustom  the  country  to  the  republican  form  of 
government,  and  to  unite  together  in  a  common  and  harmoni- 
ous interest  the  principal  tendencies  of  public  opinion,  he 
thought  of  admitting,  for  two  or  three  years,  an  executive 
power,  composed  of  three  men,  who,  chosen  by  the  National 


190 


HISTOEY   OF   THE 


Assembly,  would  lepresent  the  three  elements  of  which  all 
public  opinion  is  composed  :  progress,  conservatism,  moderation. 
These  three  forces,  combined  together,  in  a  consulate  of  three 
years,  each  corresponding  with  one  of  the  three  parties  in  the 
nation,  —  the  progressive,  the  conservative,  and  the  moderate, — 
appeared  to  him,  without  doubt,  a  possible  cause  of  division 
and  weakness  in  the  executive  power;  but  what  he  feared 
above  all,  for  the  republic,  at  its  origin,  was  civil  war.  This 
mixed  dictatorship,  giving  security  and  pledges  to  opposite 
opinions,  was  of  a  nature  to  prevent  it.  He  was  occupied 
with  this  object.  He  conversed  respecting  it  with  several  of 
his  colleagues  ;  he  determined  to  sound  the  dispositions  of  the 
members  of  the  National  Assembly  in  regard  to  it,  upon  their 
arrival  at  Paris,  and  to  take  that  course  which  appeared  to 
him  the  most  universally  crtlopted  by  the  majority  of  minds. 
A  private  conference  on  this  subject  took  place  between  him 
and  some  advocates  of  different  opinions  from  his  own.  They 
sought  to  come  to  an  understanding ;  they  adjourned  every- 
thing, they  resolved  on  nothing.  Everything  depended,  with 
regard  to  this,  on  unknown  elements  ;  the  mind,  the  disposi- 
tion, the  majorities,  the  minorities,  among  the  members  of  the 
National  Assembly. 

As  to  a  plan  of  constitution  to  be  presented,  they  renounced 
it  entirely  in  the  last  session  which  preceded  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  April.  The  three  parties,  which  were  in  turn  in 
opposition  or  in  harmony  within  the  bosom  of  the  government, 
were  too  much  divided,  and  sometimes  too  much  irritated,  to 
come  to  an  understanding  upon  a  common  plan  of  constitu- 
tion. The  socialist  party,  the  conventionalist  party,  and  the 
republican  party,  could  not  bring  forth  the  same  idea.  •  They 
felt  it,  they  admitted  it ;  they  had  recourse  to  the  National  As- 
sembly, which  must  give  a  casting  vote  among  these  parties. 
The  two  last  parties  might,  with  some  effort,  come  to  an  agree- 
ment. The  first  was  incompatible  with  the  National  Assem- 
bly, for  the  National  Assembly  would  act  for  the  interest  of 
the  soil,  the  age,  and  the  administration.  The  socialist  party 
would  act  for  the  interest  of  an  absolute  theory  ;  an  absolute 
theory  is  violence.     Violence  can  only  constitute  tyranny. 


III. 

At  last,  the  dawn  of  safety  was  appearing  for  France  with 
the  day  of  the  genera'.,  elections.     This  was  the  Easter-day, 


REVOLUTiaN    OF    1S48. 


191 


the  twenty-seventh  of  April,  an  epoch  of  pious  solemnity,  cho- 
sen by  the  provisional  government  in  order  that  the  labors  of 
the  people  might  not  serve  as  a  diversion  nor  a  pretext  to 
draw  them  from  the  fulfilment  of  their  duty,  and  in  order  that 
the  rehgious  sentiment  which  hovers  over  the  human  mind 
during  these  days,  consecrated  to  the  commemoration  of  a 
great  worship,  might  penetrate  the  public  spirit,  and  give  to 
liberty  the  sanctity  of  a  religion. 

It  was  the  boldest  problem  ever  presented  before  a  nation 
organized  in  a  period  of  revolution.  This  trial  solved  it  for 
the  safety  and  glory  of  the  nation. 

At  sunrise  the  people,  collected  and  moved  with  patriotism, 
formed  in  columns  at  the  entrances  of  the  temples,  conducted 
by  the  mayors,  the  curates,  the  teachers,  the  justices  of  the 
peace,  and  influential  citizens,  passed  through  the  villages  and 
hamlets  to  the  principal  places  of  the  district,  and  deposited 
ill  the  urns,  without  other  impulse  than  their  own  conscience, 
without  violence,  and  almost  without  solicitation,  the  names  of 
the  men  whose  honor,  intelligence,  virtue,  talent,  and,  above  all, 
whose  moderation,  inspired  them  with  the  greatest  confidence 
for  the  common  safety,  and  for  the  future  of  the  republic. 

It  was  the  same  in  the  cities.  The  citizens  were  seen,  rich 
and  poor,  soldiers  or  workmen,  proprietors  or  the  destitute, 
going  out,  one  by  one,  from  the  threshold  of  their  houses, 
with  calmness  and  serenity  on  their  faces,  to  carry  their  writ- 
ten votes  to  the  polls,  and  sometimes  stopping  to  modify  them, 
under  a  new  inspiration,  or  under  a  sudden  repentance  of  their 
consciences,  and  deposit  them  in  the  urn ;  then  returning,  with 
satisfaction  painted  on  their  countenances,  as  from  a  pious  cere- 
mony. Never  had  public  conscience  and  the  general  good 
sense  of  the  community  been  manifested  by  a  people  with 
more  scruple,  religion,  and  dignity.  It  was  one  of  those  days 
when  a  nation  looks  to  Heaven,  and  when  Heaven  looks  upon  a 
nation.  The  government  gave  themselves  this  day  of  repose, 
the  first  for  three  months.     They  felt  that  God  and  the  people 


were  working  for  them. 


IV. 


The  churches  were  filled  with  a  kneelingcrowd,  who  invoked 
the  divine  inspiration  and  the  spirit  of  peace  upon  the  hands 
of  the  electors.  They  felt  that  their  prayer  was  granted,  before 
they  oflTered  it.  The  calm  with  which  the  electoral  proceed- 
ings were  conducted  was  a  presentiment  of  the  choice  which 


192  HISTORY    OF    THE 

emanated  from  the  heart  of  this  people.  Anarchy  could  not 
proceed  from  so  unanimous  an  inspiration  of  good. 

At  the  decline  of  day  Lamartine  wandered  alone,  with  his 
heart  filled  with  gratitude,  in  a  populous  quarter  of  Paris.  He 
saw  the  crowd  ascending  and  descending  the  steps  of  a  church. 
The  court-yard  in  front  seemed  overflowing  with  worshippers, — 
men,  women,  children,  old  men,  young  men,  —  all  eyes  full  of 
hope  for  the  future,  their  attitude  firm,  their  countenance  in 
repose.  The  sounds  of  the  organ  were  heard  in  the  street, 
when  the  doors  were  opened,  and  allowed  the  tones  of  the  in- 
strument and  the  echo  of  the  psalms  to  pass  through. 

He  entered;  he  glided,  unknown  in  the  darkness,  among  this 
crowd,  which  filled  the  church.  He  knelt  under  the  shade  of 
a  column,  and  returned  thanks  to  God.  His  work  was  accom- 
plished. Great  personal  dangers  might  yet  menace  him  before 
the  day  when  the  National  Assembly  should  enter  Paris  and 
take  possession  of  its  sovereignty.  There  were  still  to  be  met 
desperate  resistance,  guilty  hopes,  conspiracies  for  adjournment, 
insurrections  raised  by  the  demagogues  of  the  clubs,  menaces 
of  proscription  and  assassination  against  him  and  his  col- 
leagues. Many  eminent  men,  incredulous  to  the  last  hour, 
wrote,  or  said  to  him,  that  the  national  representatives  would 
never  take  their  seats  without  reconquering  Paris  through 
waves  of  blood.  He  received  each  day  from  the  departments 
sinister  information  respecting  the  real  or  imaginary  plots 
woven  against  his  life.  They  told  him  of  fanatical  parties  of 
such  or  such  a  city,  who  would  strike  him  with  the  dagger, 
and  proclaim  the  revolutionary  government  over  his  dead  body. 
"  I  may  yet  fall,  in  fact,"  said  he,  in  the  secret  belief  of  his 
heart,  "  but  at  this  late  hour  France  cannot  fall ;  the  votes  are 
in  the  urn.  They  will  be  numbered  to-morrow.  Her  sover- 
eignty exists,  her  legal  representatives  are  appointed.  If  the 
government  is  overthrown  by  a  conspiracy,  these  chosen  men 
of  France  will  unite  in  each  department ;  they  will  arrive  at 
the  gates  of  Paris,  escorted  by  two  millions  of  armed  citizens ; 
they  will  crush  the  dictators  or  the  committees  of  public  safety. 
They  will  take  France  from  the  hands  of  the  factious.  What 
matters  it  that  I  die  ?  France  is  saved  !  " 

France  could,  in  fact,  henceforth  breathe.  The  National 
Assembly  was,  in  nearly  all  its  names,  an  act  of  public  safety. 
The  name  of  Lamartine  was  drawn  ten  times  from  the  elec- 
toral urn,  without  his  knowing  even  a  single  one  of  his  electors. 
If  he  had  said  a  word,  insinuated  a  desire,  made  a  gesture,  he 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  193 

would  have  been  chosen  in  eighty  departments.  His  popular- 
ity was  without  bound  in  Paris,  in  France,  in  Germany,  in 
Italy,  and  America.  For  Germany,  his  name  was  peace.  For 
France,  it  was  the  guarantee  against  terror.  For  Italy,  it  was 
hope.  For  America,  it  was  the  republic.  He  had  really,  at 
this  moment,  the  sovereignty  of  the  European  conscience.  He 
could  not  take  a  step  in  the  streets  without  raising  acclama- 
tions. They  followed  him  into  his  dwelling,  and  interrupted 
his  sleep.  Twice  recognized  at  the  opera  in  the  remote  part 
of  a  box,  the  pit  and  spectators  rose,  suspended  the  representa- 
tion, and  covered  his  name  for  five  minutes  with  applause. 
France  personified  in  him  her  joy  at  having  regained  her  gov- 
ernment. 


The  country  had  chosen,  with  reflection,  with  impartiality 
and  wisdom,  all  the  good  men,  whose  opinions,  at  once  liberal, 
republican,  honest,  moderate  and  courageous,  could  adapt  them- 
selves, without  impatience,  as  without  repugnance,  to  the  new 
order  of  things  made  necessary  by  the  revolution.  France 
had  shown  the  genius  for  transition,  and  sovereign  tact  in 
moulding  herself  to  circumstances.  She  had  discarded  only 
the  names  too  much  signalized  by  the  favor  or  the  faults  of  the 
last  government.  She  had  not  proscribed,  but  deferred  them. 
She  feared  resentments  and  recriminations.  This  assembly 
of  nine  hundred  members  was  the  honor  and  patriotism  of 
France  collected  in  its  sovereignty.  History  ought  to  engrave 
their  names  for  posterity  on  a  page  of  marble,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  small  number  of  demagogues,  superannuated  imitators 
of  1793,  and  five  or  six  fanatics  driven  mad  by  chimeras.  The 
names  of  all  these  citizens  collected  together  signified  the  safety 
of  France,  and  the  foundation  of  the  constitutional  republic. 
The  following  are  their  names  :  — 

Aln.  —  Bodin  (Alex.-Marcel-Melchior).  Bochard.  Charassin. 
Francisque  Bouvet  (Francois-Joseph).  Guigue  de  Champvans. 
Maissiat  (Jacques).  Quinet  (Edgar).  Regembal  (Antoine). 
Tendret. 

AisNE.  —  Barrot  (Odilon).  Bauchart  (Quentin).  Baudelot. 
De  Brotonne.  Desabes.  Dufour  (Theophile).  Lemaire 
(Maxima).  Leproux  (Jules),  Lherbette.  Nachet.  Plocq 
(Toussaint).     Quinette.     De  Tillancourt  (Edmond).     Vivien. 

Allier.  —  Bureaux  de  Puzy.    De  Courtais.    Fargin  Fayolle. 

VOL.   IL  17 


^ 


194  HISTORY   OF   THE 

Laussedat  (Louis).  Madet  (Charles).  Mathe  (Felix).  Ter- 
rier (Barthelemy).     Tourret  (Charles-Gilbert). 

Basses-Alpes.  —  Chais  (Auguste).  Duchaffault.  Fortoul. 
Laidet. 

Hautes-Alpes.  —  AUier.  Bellegarde.  Faure  (Pascal-Jo- 
seph). 

Ardeche.  —  Champanhet.  Chazallon.  Dautheville  (Fran- 
cois). Laurent.  Mathieu.  Rouveure.  Royol  (Jean).  Sibour. 
Valladier. 

Ardennes.  —  Blanchard.  Drappier.  Payer.  Robert  (Leon). 
Talon.     Ternaux-Mortimer.      Toupet-Desvignes.     Tranchart. 

Ariege.  —  Anglade  (Clement).  Arnaud.  Casse.  Damaud. 
Galy-Cazalat.     Vignes  (Th).     Xavier-Durrieu. 

AuBE.  —  Blavoyer.  Delaporte.  Gayot  (Amedee.)  Gerdy 
(Pierre-Nicolas).    Lignier.    Millard  (Jean-Auguste).     Stourm. 

AuDE.  —  Anduze-Faris.  Barbes  (Armand).  Joly  fils  (Ed- 
mond).  Raynal  (Theodore).  Sarrans  (Jean).  Solier  (Marc). 
Trinchant. 

Aveyron.  —  Abbal  (Basile-Joseph).  Affre  (Louis-Henri). 
Dalbis  du  Salze.  Dubruel  (Edouard).  Grandet.  Medal.  Pradie. 
Rodat.     Vernhette.     Vesin. 

Bouches-du-Rhone. — Astouin.  Barthelemy.  Berryer  (Pierre- 
Antoine).  Laboulie  (Gustave).  Ollivier  (Demosthenes).  Pas- 
cal (Felix).  Poujoulat.  Rey  (Alexandre).  Reybaud  (Louis). 
Sauvaire-Bartht'lemy. 

Calvados.  —  Bellencontre  (Joseph -Pierre-Francois).  Besnard. 
(Jean-Charles).  Demortreux  (Pierre-Thomas-Frederic).  Des- 
clais  (Jacques-Alexandre).  Deslongrais  (Armand-Rocherulle). 
Douesnel-Dubosq  (Robert-Alexandre).  Hervieu  (Pierre-Sos- 
thene).  Lebarillier  (Louis-Constant).  Lemonnier  (Jean-Nic- 
olas). Marie  (Auguste-Alphonse).  Person  (Felix).  Thomine- 
Desmasures. 

Cantal.  —  Daude.  Delzons  (Jean-Francois-Amedee).  Du- 
rieu-Paulin.  Murat-Sistrieres.  Parieu  (Felix-Esquiron  de), 
Richard.     Teilhard-Laterisse. 

Charente.  —  Babaud-Laribiere.  Garnier-Laboissiere.  Gi- 
rardin  (Ernest  de).  Hennessy  (Auguste).  Lavallee.  Mathieu- 
Bodet.     Pougeard.     Rateau. 

Charente-Inferieure.  —  Audry  de  Puyraveau  (Pierre-Fran- 
cois). Baroche.  Brard  (Pierre-Lucien).  Bugeaud.  Debain 
(Leon).  Dufaure.  Dupont  de  Bussac.  Gaudin  (Pierre-Theo- 
dore). Regnault  de  Saint- Jean  d'Angely.  Renou  de  Ballon. 
Target. 


REVOLUTION    OF    1348.  195 

Cher.  —  BiJault.  Bouzique  (Etienne-Ursin).  Duplan  (Paul). 
Duvergier  de  Hauranne.  Poisle-Desgranges  (Jacques-Damien). 
Pyat  (Felix).     Vogue  (Leonce  de). 

CoRRZEE.  —  Bourzat.  Ceyras.  Du  Bousquet  Laborderie. 
Favart.     Latrade.     Lebraly.     Madesclaire.     Penieres. 

Corse.  —  Bonaparte  (Napoleon).  Bonaparte  (Pierre-Napo- 
leon). Casablanca  (Xavier).  Conti  (Etienne).  Pietri  (Pierre- 
Marie). 

Cote-d'Or.  —  Bougut'ret  (Edouard).  Godard-Poussignol. 
James-Demontry.  Joigneaux.  Magnin-Philippon.  Maire 
(Neveu).    Marechal.    Mauguin.    Monnet.    Perrenet  (Pierre). 

Cotes-du-Nord.  —  Carre  (Felix).  Denis.  Depasse  (Emile- 
Toussaint-Marcel).  Glais-Bizoin.  Houvenagle.  Ledru.  Le- 
gorrec.  Loyer.  Marie.  Michel.  Morrhery.  Perret. 
Racinet.  Simon  (Jules).  Tassel  (Yves).  Treveneuc  (Henri- 
Louis-Marie  de). 

Creuse.  —  Desaincthorent.  Fayolle  (Edmond).  Guisard. 
Lassarre.    Lecler  (Felix).   Leyraud.    Sallandrouze-Lamornais. 

Dordogne.  —  Auguste  Mie.  Barailler  (Eugene).  Chavoix 
(Jean-Baptiste).  Delbetz.  Dezeimeris.  Ducluzeau.  Dupont 
(Auguste).  Dussolier.  Goubie.  Grolhier-Desbrousses.  La- 
crouzille  (Amedee).     Savy.     Taillefer  (Timoleon). 

DouBS.  —  Baraguay  d'Hilliers.  Bixio.  Convers.  Demes- 
may.     Mauvais.     Montalembert.     Tanchard. 

D^oME.  —  Bajard.  Belin.  Bonjean.  Cumier.  Mathieu 
(Philippe).     Morin.     Rey.     Sautayra. 

EuRE.  —  Alcan  (Michel).  Canel.  Davy.  Demante  (An- 
toine-Marie).  Dumont.  Dupont.  Langlois.  Legendre. 
I\Iontreuil  (de).  Picard  (Jean- Jacques-Francois).  Sevaistre 
(Paul). 

EuRE-ET-LoiR.  —  Barthelemy.  Isambert.  Lebreton  (Eu- 
gene-Casimir).  Marescal.  Raimbault-Courtin.  Subervie. 
Trousseau  (Armand). 

FiNiSTERE.  —  Brunei  (Alexis).  Decouvrant  (Andre-Marie- 
Adolphe).  Fauveau  (Joseph).  Fournas  (Balthazar  de).  Gra- 
veran  Keranflech  (Yves-Michel-Gilart  de).  Kersauson  (Joseph- 
Marc-Marie).  Lacrosse.  Le  Breton  (Charles-Louis).  Le  Flo. 
Mege  (James).  RiverieuLx  (Armand-Marie-Emile).  Rossel 
(Victor).     Soubigou  (Francois-Louis).     Tassel. 

Gard.  —  Bechard  (Ferdinand).  Bousquet.  Chapot.  De- 
mians  (Auguste).  Favend  (Etienne-Edouard-Charles-Eugene). 
Labruguiere-Carme.  Larcy  (de).  Reboul  (Jean).  Roux-Car- 
bonnel.     Teulon. 


196  HISTORY   OF   THE 

Haute -Gaeonne.  —  Azerm  (Louis).  Ca.es  (Godefroi).  Da- 
beaux.  Espinasse  (Ernest  de  1').  Gatien-Arnoult  (Adolphe- 
Felix).  Joly  (Henri).  Malbois  (Jean-Francois).  Marrast 
(Armand).  Mule  (Bernard).  Pages  de  I'Ariege  (Jean-Bap- 
tiste).     Pegot-Ogier  (Jean-Baptiste).     Eemusat  (Charles  de). 

Gers.  —  Alem-Rousseau.  Aylies.  Boubee  (Theodore). 
Carbonneau.    David  (Irenee).    Gavarret.    Gounon.    Panat  (de). 

GiRONDE.  —  Billaudel  (Jean-Baptiste-Basilide).  Denjoy. 
Deseze  (Aurelien).  Ducos  (Theodore).  Feuilhade-Chauvin. 
Hovyn-Tranchere.  Hubert-Delisle.  Lagarde.  Larrieu.  Mole. 
Eichier.     Serviere.     Simiot.     Thomas  (Clement). 

Herault.  —  Andre  (Jules).  Bertrand  (Jean-Pierre-Louis- 
Toussaint).  Brives.  Carion-Nisas  (Andre).  Cazelles  (Bru- 
tus). Charamaule  (Hippolyte).  Laissac.  Reboul-Coste  (Aris- 
tide).     Renouvier  (Jules).     Vidal. 

Ille-et-Vilaine.  —  Andigne  de  la  Chasse  (d').  Bertin. 
Bidard.  Fresneau  (Armand).  Garnier-Keruault.  Jouin 
(Pierre).  Kerdrel  (Vincent-Audren  de).  Legeard  de  La  Di- 
riays.  Legraverend.  Marion  (Jean-Louis).  Meaule  (Charles). 
Paul  Rabuan.  Roux-Lavergne  (Pierre-Celestin)^.     Tredern  (de). 

Indre.  —  Bertrand  (Henri).  Charlemagne  (Edouard).  Dela- 
vau  (Francois-Charles).  Fleury.  Grillon  (Eugene-Victor- 
Adrien).     KoUinat. 

Indre-et-Loire.  —  Cremieux  (Isaac-Adolphe).  Foucque- 
teau.  Gouin  (Alexandre).  Julien.  Jullien  (Amable).  Lumi- 
nals.    Taschereau  (Jules).     M.  Bacot. 

IsERE.  —  Bertholon.  Blanc  (Alphonse).  Brillier.  Cholat. 
Clement  (Auguste).  Crepu.  Durand-Savoyat.  Farconnet. 
Froussard.  Marion  de  Fa  verges  (Andre).  Renaud.  Repellin. 
Ronjat.     Saint-Romme.     Tranchand. 

Jura.  —  Chevassu.  Cordier  (Joseph).  Grea.  Grevy  (Jules). 
Huot  (Cesaire).     Jobez  (Alphonse).     Tamisier.^   Valette. 

Landes.  —  Bastiat  (Frederic).  Dampierre  (Elie  de).  Du- 
clerc  (Eugene).  Duprat  (Pascal).  Lefranc  (Victor).  Marrast 
(Franqois).     Turpin  (Numa). 

Loir-et-Cher.  —  Ducoux.  Durand  de  Romorantin.  Ge- 
rard.    Normant  (Antoine).     Salvat.     Sarrut  (Germain). 

Loire.  —  Alcock.  Baune.  Callet  (Pierre-Auguste).  Cha- 
vassieu.  Devill?ine.  Favre  (Jules).  Fourneyron  (Benoist). 
Levet  (Henri).     Martin-Bernard.     Point.     Verpilleux. 

Haute-Loire.  —  Avond  (Auguste).  Badon.  Breymand. 
Grellet  (Felix).  Lafayette  (Edmond).  Lagrevol  (Alexandre). 
Laurent  (Aime).     RuUiere. 


REVOLUTION    OF    1343.  197 

LoTRE-iNFERiEURE  —  Bedeau  (Marie-Alphonse).  Billaut. 
Braheix,  Camus  de  la  Guibourgere  (Alexandre-Prosper).  Des- 
mars.  Favre  (Ferdinand).  Favreau  (Louis-Jacques).  Four- 
nier  (Felix).  Granville  (Aristide  de).  Lanjuinais.  Rochette 
(Ernest  de  la).     Sesmaisons  (Olivier  de).    Waldeck-Rousseau. 

LoniET.  —  Abbatucci.  Arbey.  Considerant  (Victor).  Mar- 
tin (Alexandre).     Michot.     Pean  (Emile).     Roger.    Rondeau. 

Lot.  —  Ambert.  Carla.  Cavaignac  (le  general  Eugene) 
Labrousse  (Emile).  Murat  (Lucien).  RoUand.  Saint-Priest 
(de). 

Lot-et-Garonne.  —  Baze.  Berard.  Boissie.  Dubruel  (Gas- 
pard)^  Luppe  (Irene  de).  Mispoulet.  Radoult-Lafosse.  Tar- 
tas  (Emile).     Vergnes  (Paul). 

LozERE.  —  Comandre  (Edouard).  DesmoUes.  Renoujrd 
(Fortune).     M.  I'abbe  Fayet. 

Mak^e-et-Loire.  —  Bineau.  Cesbron-Lavau  (Charles). 
David  d'Angers.  Dutier.  Falloux  (de).  Farran.  Freslon 
(Alexandre).  Gullier  de  la  Tousche.  JouneauLx.  Lefranqois, 
Louvet  (Ch.).     Oudinot.     Tessie  de  la  Motte. 

Manche.  —  Abraham-Dubois.  Boulatignier.  Delouche. 
Demesange.  Diguet.  Dudouyt.  Essars  (des).  Gaslonde. 
Havin.  Laumondais.  Lempereur.  Perree  (Louis).  Tocque- 
ville  (Henry-Alexis  de).     Vieillard  (Narcisse).     M.  Reibell. 

Marne.  —  Aubertin.  Bailly.  Bertrand  (Jean.)  Derode 
(L. -Emile).  Faucher  (Leon).  Ferrand.  Leblond.  Perig- 
non.     Soullie. 

Haute-Marne.  —  Chauchard.  Couvreux.  Delarbre.  Mil- 
houx.     Montrol.     Toupot-de-Besvaux.     Walferdin. 

Mayenne.  —  Bigot.  Boudet.  ChamboUe.  Chenais.  Du- 
bois, Fresney  (Joseph).  Dutreil.  Goyet-Dubignon.  Jamet 
(Emile).     Roussel  (Jules). 

Meurthe.  —  Adelsw'aerd  (d').  Charron  fils.  Deludre,  Fer- 
ry. Laflize.  Leclerc.  Liouville.  Marchal.  Saint-Ouen. 
Viox.     Vogin. 

Meuse.  —  Buvignier  (Isidore).  Chadenet.  Etienne.  Gil- 
Ion  (Paulin).     Launois.     Moreau.     Salmon.     M.  Dessaux. 

MoRBiKAN.  —  Beslay.  Crespel  de  la  Tousche.  Dahirel. 
Danielo.  Dubodan,  Fournas  (de).  Harscouet  de  Saint- 
Georges.  Leblanc.  Parisis.  Perrien  (Arthur  de).  Piogeh 
(de).     Rochejaquelein  (de  la). 

Moselle.  —  Antoine.  Bardin.  Deshayes.  Espagne  (d'). 
Jean-Reynaud.  Labbe.  Poncelet.  Rolland  (Gustavo).  To- 
tain.     Valette.     Woirhaye. 

VOL.  II.  17* 


19S 


HISTORY   OF    THE 


NiEVRE.  —  Archambault.  Dupin.  Gambon.  Girerd.  Gran- 
gier  de  la  Mariniere.     Lafontaine.    Manuel,    Martin  (Emile). 

NoRD.  —  Antony-Thouret.  Aubry,  Bonte-Pollet.  Bou- " 
langer.  Cheque.  Come.  Delespaul.  Descat.  Desmoutiers, 
Desurmont.  DoUez.  Dufont.  Duquesne.  Farez,  Girau- 
don.  Hannoye.  Heddebault.  Hure.  Lemaire  (Andre). 
Lenglet.  Loiset.  Malo.  Mouton.  Negrier.  Pureur.  Reg- 
nard.     Serlooten.     Vendois. 

OiSE.  —^  Barillon.  Desormes.  Flye.  Gerard.  Lagache. 
Leroux  (Eiaile).  Marquis  (Donatien).  Mornay  (Jules  de). 
Sainte-Beuve.     Tondu-du-Metz. 

Orne.  —  Charencey  (de).  Corcelles  (de).  Curial.  Druet- 
Desvaux.  Gigon-Labertrie.  Guerin.  Hamard.  Piquet. 
Tracy  (Destut  de).     Simphor-Vaudore.     Ballot. 

Pas-de-Calais.  —  Bellart-Dambricourt.  Gary.  Cornille. 
Degeorge.  Denissel.  Emmery.  Fourmentin.  Fhechon. 
Herembault  (d').  Lantoine-Harduin.  Lebleu.  Olivier.  Pe- 
tit (de  Bryas).     Pieron.     Pierret.     Saint-Amour.     Lenglet. 

Puy-de-D6me.  —  Altaroche.  Astaix.  Baudet-Lafarge.  Bra- 
vard  (Toussaint).  Bravard-Veyrieres.  Charras.  Combarel- 
de-Leyval.  Girot-Pouzol.  Gouttai.  Jouvet.  Jusserand. 
Lasteyras.     Lavigne.     Rouher.     Trelat. 

Basses-Pyrenees. —  Barthe  (Marcel).  Boutoey.  Condou. 
Dariste.  Etcheverry.  Laussat  (de).  Leremboure.  Lestapis. 
Nogue.     Renaud.     Saint-Gaudens. 

Hautes-Pyrenees.  —  Cenac.  Deville.  Dubarry.  Lacaze 
(Bernard).     Recurt.     Vignerte.  , 

Pyrenees-Orientales.  —  Arago  (Emmanuel).  Arago  (Eti- 
enne).     Guiter.     Lefranc.     Picas. 

Bas-Rhin.  —  Boussingault.  Bruckner.  Champy.  Chauf- 
four.  Dorian.  Engelhardt.  Foy.  Gloxin.  Kling.  Lauth. 
Liechtemberger.  Martin  (de  Strasbourg).  Schlosser.  Wes- 
tercamp.     Culmann. 

Haut-Rhin. — Hardy.  Dollfus.  DeHeeckeren.  Heuchel. 
Kestner.  Koenig.  Prudhomme.  Rudler.  Stoeckle.  Struch. 
Yves.     Chauffour. 

Rhone.  —  Auberthier.  Benoit.  Chanay.  Doutre.  Fer- 
rouillat.  Gourd.  Greppo.  Lacroix.  (J.).  Laforest.  De 
Mortemart.     Mouraud.     Paullian.     Pelletier.     Rivet. 

Haute-Saone. — Angar.  Dufournel.  Grammont  (de).  Gu- 
errin.     Lelut.     Millotte.     Minal.     Noirot.     Signard. 

Saone-et-Loire.  —  Bourdon.     Bruys.     Dariot.     Jeandeau. 


II 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  199 

Lacroix  (A.)-     Martin-Rey.     ]\Iathey.     Mathieu.     Menand 
Petit-Jean.     Pezerat.     Reverchon.     Rolland.     Thiard  (de). 

Sarthe.  —  Beaumont  (Gustavo  de).  Cheve.  Degousee. 
Gasselin  (de  Chantenay).  Gasselin  (de  Fresnay).  Haureau. 
Lamoriciere.  Langlais.  Lebreton.  Lorette.  Saint-Albin 
(Hortensius  de).     Trouve-Chauvel. 

Seine. — Albert.  Arago  (Franc^ois).  Berger.  Blanc  (Louis). 
Boissel.  Buchez.  Carnot.  Caussidiere.  Changarnier.  Co- 
querel.  Corbon.  Cormenin  (de).  Flocon.  Fould  (Achille). 
Gamier  Pages.  Garnon.  Goudchaux.  Guinard.  Hugo  (Vic- 
tor). Lagrange.  Lamartine  (Alphonse  de).  Lamennais  (de). 
Lasteyrie  (Ferdinand  de).  Ledru  RoUin.  Leroux  (Pierre). 
Marie.  Moreau.  Perdiguier  (Agricol).  Peupin.  Proudhon. 
Raspail.     Vavin.     Wolowski.     Bonaparte  (L.-N.). 

Seine-Lxferieuke.  —  Bautier.  Cecille.  Dargent.  Dtmar- 
est.  Desjobert.  Dupin  (Charles).  Germoniere.  Girard. 
Grandin  (Victor).  Lebreton  (Th.).  Lefort-Gonssolin.  Le- 
vavasseur.  Loyer.  Morlot.  Osmont.  Randoing.  Senard. 
Thiers. 

Seine-et-Marne.— Auberge.  Bastide(J.).  Bavoux.  Chap- 
pon.  Drouyn  de  Lhuis.  Lafayette  (G.).  Lafayette  (Oscar). 
Lasteyrie  (J.  de).     Portalis  (A.). 

Sel\e-et-Oise. — Albert"  de  Luynes  (d').  Barthelemy  Saint- 
Hilaire.  Berville.  Bezanson.  Durand.  Flandin.  Landrin. 
Lecuyer.     Lefebvre.     Pagnerre.     Pigeon.     Remilly. 

Deux-Sevres. —  Baugier.  Blot.  Boussi.  Charles  (aine). 
Chevallon.     Demarcay.     Maichain.     Richard  (J.). 

SoJiiME.  —  Allart.'  Beaumont  (de).  Creton.  Defourment. 
Delatre.  Dubois  (Am.),  Gaultier  de  Rumilly.  Labordere. 
Magniez.     Morel-Cornet.     Biin  de  Bourdon. 

Tarn.  —  Boyer.  Garayon-Latour.  Marliave  (de).  Mou- 
ton.     Puysegur  (de).     Rey.     Saint-Victor  (de).     Voisins  (de). 

Tarn-et-Gaeonne.  —  Cazales  (de).  Delbrel.  Detours. 
Faure-Dere.     Maleville  (de).     Rous. 

Var.— Alleman.  Andre  (Marius).  Arene.  Amaud  (Ch.). 
Baune  (Edm.).  Cazy.  Guigues  (Luc).  Maurel  (MarcelL). 
Philibert. 

Vaucll'se.  —  Bourbousson.  Gent.  La  Boissiere  (de).  Pin 
(Elz.).     Raspail  (Eug.).     Reynaud-Lagardete. 

Vendee.  —  Bouhier.de  I'Ecluse.  Defontaine  (Guy).  Gre- 
lier-Dufougeroux.  Lespinay  (de).  Luneau.  Mareau.  Pa- 
renteau.     Rouille.     Tinguy  (de). 


200  HISTORY   OF    THE 

ViENNE  —  Barthelemy,  Berenger.  Bonnin,  Bourbeau. 
Junyen.     Pleignard.     Drault.     Jeudy, 

Haute-Vienne. — Allegre.  Bac  (Theodore).  Brunet.  Co- 
ralli.     Dumas,     Frichon.     Maurat-Ballange.     Tixier. 

VosGES.  —  Braux,  Buffet.  Doublat.  Falatieu.  Forel. 
Hingray.  Houel.  Huot.  Najean.  Turck.  Boulay  (de  la 
Meurthe). 

YoNNE.  —  Carreau.  Charton,  Guichard.  Larabit.  Eam- 
pont.     Rathier.     Raudot.     Robert  (L.).     Vaulabelle. 

Algerie.  —  Barrot  (Ferdinand).  Didier.  Prebois  (de). 
Ranee  (de). 

Martinique.  —  Mazulime.     Pory-Papy.     Schoslcher. 

Guadeloupe.  —  Dain  (Charles).    Louisy-Mathieu.    Perinon. 

Senegal.  —  Durand-Valentin. 

The  National  Assembly  opened  on  the  4th  of  May.  Never 
before  had  a  solemnity  more  majestic  in  its  simplicity  installed 
the  sovereignty  of  a  great  nation.  The  National  Guard,  the 
people,  and  some  brilliant  deputations  from  the  army,  sum- 
moned to  Paris  to  assist  at  the  return  of  sovereignty,  were  on 
their  feet  from  the  morning.  The  government,  after  meeting 
at  the  ministry  of  justice,  advanced  on  foot  through  the  boule- 
vards in  the  centre  of  two  lines  of  a  hundred  thousand  men, 
and  preceded  by  the  general  of  the  National  Guard  and  his 
staff,  which  opened  the  crowd  before  the  dictators,  who  were 
going  to  abdicate.  The  windows  and  roofs  of  the  quarters 
traversed  by  the  procession  rang  with  shouts  and  acclamations. 
Never  did  a  government  making  its  entry  into  a  capital,  pre- 
ceded by  the  enthusiastic  hopes  of  an  entire  people,  hear  more 
acclamations  rising  round  it,  than  this  government,  which  would 
expire  in  an  hour,  received  in  its  last  moments.  Its  weakness- 
es, its  faults,  its  inadequacy,  and  its  illegitimacy,  were  forgotten. 
Its  efforts  were  appreciated.  Its  disinterestedness  was  reward- 
ed by  gratitude.  Its  members  assumed  no  striking  designa- 
tion. They  were  plain  citizens,  humbly  clad,  who  had  en- 
joyed the  authority,  but  not  the  luxury,  of  power.  They  were 
pointed  out,  —  Dupont  de  TEure  on  the  right,  then  Lamartine 
on  the  left,  then  Louis  Blanc,  Arago,  surrounded  by  the  noble 
respect  due  to  science  and  policy ;  Gamier  Pages,  of  antique 
simplicity  and  probity ;  Cremieux,  Marie,  Marrast,  names  re- 
spected for  their  services;  Flocon,  Ledru  Rollin,  Albert,  names 
dearer  to  republicans  of  former  date,  who  awakened  more  mem- 
ories or  hopes  ;  Carnot  and  Bethm(  nt,  who,  though  only  min- 


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LIBRARY 
OF  THE 


REVOLUTION   OF    184S. 


201 


isters,  had  shared  the  labors,  dangers,  and  responsibiliiies  of 
government.  Each  of  these  names  received  its  share  of  o-rati- 
tude  or  esteem.  They  were  going  to  abdicate.  They ''were 
no  longer  feared,  —  they  were  applauded. 


VI. 

The  government  having  been  ushered  into  the  hall,  the  nine 
hundred  representatives  received  them  standing.  An  nnmense 
shout  of  Vive  la  RcpuhUque !  revealed  to  France  that  this  gov- 
ernment, provisionally  voted  on  the  25th  of  February,  by  the 
presentiment  of  Paris,  had  been  adopted  and  ratified,  with 
unanimity  and  acclamation,  by  the  mature  reflection  of  the 
country. 

Dupont  de  I'Eure,  the  president  of  the  provisional  govern- 
ment, ascended  the  tribune,  and  was  received  with  the  respect 
which  attaches  to  long  years  devoted  to  one's  country.  In  his 
person  was  seen  one  of  those  old  men  who  bequeath  institu- 
tions to  the  human  family,  and  whose  life  Providence  seems 
to  prolong,  that  it  may  serve  as  a  transition  from  one  epoch  to 
another. 

'■  Citizens,"  said  he,  in  a  tone  from  which  gravity  did  not 
exclude  energy,  "  the  provisional  government  of  the  republic 
comes  here  to  bow  before  the  nation,  and  to  render  homage  to 
the  sovereign  power  with  which  you  are  invested.  At  last  the 
moment  has  come  for  the  government  to  relinquish  to  your 
hands  the  unlimited  power  with  which  the  revolution  clothed 
it.  You  know  whether  this  dictatorship  has  been  for  us  any- 
thing beyond  a  moral  power  exercised  in  the  midst  of  the  dif- 
ficult circumstances  which  the  nation  has  just  passed  through. 
Vive  la  Republiqtie  I " 

This  cry,  uttered  by  the  lips  of  the  old  man,  rang  from 
echo  to  echo,  from  two  hundred  thousand  voices,  as  far  as  the 
place  de  la  Concorde.  The  cannon  of  the  Invalides  hailed  it 
with  salvos.  Dupont  de  I'Eure  descended  from  the  tribune. 
He  fell  into  the  arms  of  Bt'ranger,  a  wise  and  patient  pioneer, 
like  his  friend^  of  the  republic  era,  the  Tyrtseus  of  the  glory  of 
our  arms  in  his  youth,  the  white-haired  representative  of  the 
people,  and  moderator  of  his  country. 

The  Assembly  proceeded  for  three  days  to  verify  credentials, 
and  chose  for  its  president  M.  Buchez,  in  gratitude  for  the  ser- 
vices he  had  rendered,  and  the  courage  he  had  displayed,  durhig 
the  three  months  of  administration  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 


202  HISTORY    OF    THE 

On  the  7th,  Lamartme  ascended  the  tribune,  and  in  the  place 
and  name  of  the  president  of  the  provisional  government,  gave 
an  account  of  the  acts  of  the  revolution,  in  the  following 
terms  :  — 

"  Citizejv-Representatives  of  the  People  : 

"  At  the  moment  of  your  entrance  on  the  exercise  of  your 
sovereignty  —  at  the  moment  of  our  resigning  into  your  hands 
the  special  powers  with  which  the  revolution  provisionally  in- 
vested us — we  wish,  in  the  first  place,  to  render  you  an  account 
of  the  situation  in  which  we  found  ourselves,  and  in  which  you 
also  find  the  nation. 

"  A  revolution  burst  forth  on  the  '24th  of  February.  The 
people  overthrew  the  throne.  They  swore  upon  its  ruins  thence- 
forth to  reign  alone,  and  entirely  by  themselves.  They  charged 
us  to  provide  temporarily  for  the  necessity  of  the  interregnum 
which  they  had  to  traverse  to  reach,  without  disorder  or  anarchy, 
their  unanimous  and  final  power.  Our  first  thought  was  to 
abridge  this  interregnum  by  immediately  convoking  the  national 
representation,  in  which  alone  reside  right  and  force.  Simply 
citizens,  without  any  other  summons  than  public  peril,  without 
any  other  title  than  our  devotedness,  trembling  to  accept,  hast- 
ening to  restore  the  deposit  of  national  destinies,  we  have  had 
but  one  ambition,  —  that  of  resigning  the  dictatorship  to  the 
bosom  of  popular  sovereignty. 

"  The  throne  overturned,  the  dynasty  crumbling  of  itself,  we 
did  not  proclaim  the  republic ;  it  proclaimed  itself,  by  the  voice 
of  an  entire  people: — we  did  nothing  but  register  the  cry  of 
the  nation. 

"  Our  first  thought,  as  well  as  the  first  requirement  of  the 
country,  after  the  proclamation  of  the  republic,  was  the  reestab- 
lishment  of  order  and  security  in  Paris.  In  this  labor,  —  which 
would  have  been  more  difficult  and  more  meritorious  at  another 
time  and  in  another  country,  —  we  were  aided  by  the  concur- 
rence of  the  citizens.  While  holding  in  one  hand  the  musket 
which  had  just  given  the  death-blow  to  royalty,  this  magnani- 
mous people  with  the  other  raised  up  the  vanquished  and  the 
wounded  of  the  opposite  party.  They  protected  the  life  and 
property  of  the  inhabitants.  They  preserved  the  public  mon- 
uments. Each  citizen  of  Paris  was  at  once  the  soldier  of  hberty 
and  the  voluntary  magistrate  of  order.  History  has  recorded 
the  innumerable  acts  of  heroism,  of  probity,  and  disinterested- 
ness, w^  ich  have  characterized  these  first  days  of  the  republic. 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848. 


203 


Till  this  time  the  people  had  sometimes  been  flattered  by  allu- 
sions to  their  virtues  ;  posterity,  which  is  no  flatterer,  will  find 
all  these  expressions  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  people  of  Paris 
in  this  crisis. 

"  It  was  they  who  inspired  us  with  the  first  decree  destined 
to  give  its  true  signification  to  victor}^  —  the  decree  of  the  abo- 
lition of  the  penalty  of  death  in  political  cases.  They  suggested, 
adopted,  and  ratified  it,  by  the  acclamation  of  two  hundred 
thousand  voices,  on  the  square  and  quay  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 
Not  a  single  exclamation  of  anger  protested  against  it.  France 
and  Europe  understood  that  God  had  his  inspirations  in  the 
mass,  and  that  a  revolution  inaugvu'ated  by  grandeur  of  soul 
would  be  pure  as  an  idea,  magnanimous  as  a  sentiment,  and 
holy  as  a  virtue. 

"  The  red  flag,  presented  for  a  moment, — not  as  a  symbol 
of  menace  and  disorder,  but  as  a  temporary  flag  of  victory,  — 
was  laid  aside  by  the  combatants  themselves,  to  cover  the 
republic  with  that  tri-colored  flag  which  had  shaded  its  cradle, 
and  led  the  glory  of  our  arms  over  every  continent  and  every 
ocean. 

"  After  having  established  the  authority  of  government  in 
Paris,  it  was  necessary  to  make  the  republic  recognized  in  the 
departments,  the  colonies,  in  Algeria,  and  the  army.  The  tel- 
egraphic news  and  couriers  were  enough.  France,  her  colonies 
and  armies,  recognized  their  oa\ti  idea  in  the  idea  of  the  republic. 
There  was  no  resistance  from  a  single  hand  or  voice,  nor  from 
one  free  heart  in  France,  to  the  installation  of  the  new  govern- 
ment. 

"  Our  second  thought  was  for  the  exterior.  Europe  awaited, 
in  doubt,  the  first  word  from  France.  This  first  word  was  the 
abolition,  in  fact  and  right,  of  the  reactionary  treaties  of  1815; 
the  restoration  of  liberty  to  our  foreign  policy  ;  the  declaration 
of  peace  to  the  territories  ;  of  sympathy  to  nations  ;  of  justice, 
loyalty  and  moderation,  to  governments.  France,  in  this  mani- 
festo, laid  aside  her  ambition,  but  did  not  lay  aside  her  ideas. 
She  permitted  her  principle  to  shine  out.  This  was  all  her 
warfare.  The  special  report  of  the  minister  of  foreign  afTairs 
will  show  you  the  fruits  of  this  noonday  system  of  diplomacy, 
an  i  the  legitimate  and  great  fruits  it  must  yield  to  the  influences 
of  France. 

"  This  policy  required  the  minister  of  war  to  employ  meas- 
sures  in  harmony  with  the  system  of  armed  negotiation.  He 
energetically  reestablished  a  discipline  scarcely  shaken,  and 


204  HISTORY    OF   THB 

nonorably  recalled  to  Paris  the  army,  removed  temporarily  from 
our  walls,  that  the  people  might  have  an  opportunity  of  arming 
themselves.  The  people,  henceforth  invincible,  did  not  delay 
summoning  with  loud  cries  their  brethren  of  the  army,  not  only 
as  the  safeguard,  but  as  the  ornament,  of  the  capital.  In  Paris  the 
army  was  only  an  honorary  garrison,  designed  to  prove  to  our 
brave  soldiers  that  the  capital  of  the  country  belongs  to  all  her 
children. 

"  We  decreed,  moreover,  the  formation  of  four  armies  of 
observation  :  the  army  of  the  Alps,  the  army  of  the  Ehine,  the 
army  of  the  north,  and  the  army  of  the  Pyrenees. 

"  Our  navy  —  confided  to  the  hands  of  the  same  minister,  as 
a  second  army  of  France  —  was  rallied  under  its  commanders, 
in  a  discipline  governed  by  a  confidence  in  its  vigilance.  The 
fleet  of  Toulon  sailed  to  display  our  colors  to  nations  friendly 
to  France  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean. 

"  The  army  of  Algiers  had  neither  an  hour  nor  a  thought  of 
hesitation.  The  republic  and  the  country  were  united  in  their 
view  by  a  feeling  of  the  same  duty.  A  leader,  whose  republican 
name,  sentiments,  and  talents,  were  at  once  pledges  for  the  army 
and  the  revolution,  General  Cavaignac,  received  the  command 
of  Algeria. 

"  The  corruption  which  had  penetrated  the  holiest  institu- 
tions compelled  the  minister  of  war  to  adopt  expurgations 
demanded  by  the  public  voice.  It  was  necessary  promptly  to 
separate  justice  from  policy.  The  minister  made  the  separation 
with  pain,  but  with  inflexibility. 

"  In  proclaiming  the  republic,  the  cry  of  France  had  not  only 
proclaimed  a  form  of  government,  but  a  principle.  This  prin- 
ciple was  practical  democracy,  equality  in  rights,  fraternity  in 
institutions.  The  revolution  accomplished  by  the  people  ought, 
according  to  us,  to  be  organized  for  the  profit  of  the  people,  by 
a  series  of  fraternal  and  guardian  institutions,  proper  to  confer 
regularly  on  all  the  conditions  of  individual  dignity,  instruction, 
intelligence,  wages,  morality,  the  elements  of  labor,  competence, 
aid  and  advancement  to  property,  which  would  suppress  the 
servile  name  of  proletary,  and  would  elevate  the  laborer  to  the 
level  of  the  rights,  duties,  and  well-being  of  the  first-born  of 
prosperity ;  to  raise  up  and  enrich  the  one,  without  debasing 
and  degrading  the  other ;  to  preserve  property,  and  render  it 
more  prolific  and  sacred,  by  multiplying  it  and  dividing  it  in  the 
hands  of  the  greatest  number  ;  distributing  the  taxes  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  make  the  burden  fall  heaviest  on  the  strongest,  by 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  20o 

easing  and  succoring  the  weakest ;  to  create  by  the  state  the 
labor  which  might  accidentally  fail,  from  the  fact  of  the  timidity 
of  capital,  so  that  there  should  not  be  a  laborer  in  France  whose 
bread  and  wages  should  fail  him ;  and,  finally,  to  study  with 
the  workmen  themselves  the  practical  and  true  phenomena  of 
association,  and  the  yet  problematical  theories  of  systems,  and 
to  seek  conscientiously  their  applications,  and  to  ascertain  their 
errors  ;  —  such  was  the  idea  of  the  provisional  government,  in 
all  the  decrees  ;  whose  execution  or  examination  it  confided  to 
the  minister  of  finance,  the  minister  of  public  works,  and  to  the 
commissioner  of  the  Luxembourg,  —  the  laboratory  of  ideas, 
the  preparatory  and  statistical  congress  of  labor  and  employ- 
ment, enlightened  by  studious  and  intelligent  delegates  from  aU 
the  laborious  professions,  presided  over  by  two  members  of  the 
government  itself. 

"  The  sudden  fall  of  the  monarchy,  the  disorder  of  the 
finances,  the  momentary"  displacement  of  an  immense  mass  of 
factor^'  laborers,  the  shocks  which  these  masses  of  unoccupied 
arms  might  have  given  society,  if  their  reason,  their  patience 
and  their  practical  resignation,  had  not  been  a  miracle  of  pop- 
ular reason,  and  the  admiration  of  the  world ;  the  recoverable 
debt  of  nearly  a  thousand  millions,  which  the  fallen  govern- 
ment had  accumulated  on  the  first  two  months  of  the  republic ; 
the  industrial  and  commercial  crisis  universal  on  the  continent 
and  in  England,  coinciding  with  the  political  crisis  in  Paris ; 
the  enormous  accumulation  of  railway  shares  and  other  fictitious 
property  thrown  into  the  hands  of  agents  and  bankers  by  the 
panic  of  capita]  ;  finally,  the  imagination  of  the  country,  which 
is  carried  beyond  the  truth  at  moments  of  political  convulsion 
and  social  terror,  —  had  exhausted  active  capital,  caused  the  dis- 
appearance of  specie,  and  suspended  free  and  voluntary  labor, 
the  only  labor  sufficient  for  thirty-five  millions  of  men.  It  was 
necessary  to  supply  it  temporarily,  or  be  false  to  all  the  princi- 
ples, aU  the  precautions,  and  all  the  necessities  of  the  republic 
that  can  be  relieved.  The  minister  of  finance  will  tell  you  how 
this  prostration  of  labor  and  credit  was  provided  for,  while  wait- 
ing for  the  moment  now  reached,  when  the  restoration  of  confi- 
dence to  men's  minds  would  restore  capital  to  the  hands  of  manu- 
facturers, and  wages  to  labor  ;  when  your  wisdom  and  national 
power  will  be  equal  to  all  difficulties. 

"  The  ministry  of  public  instruction  and  worship,  confided 
to  the  same  hand,  was  for  the  government  a  manifestation  of 
intention,  and  for  the  country  a  presage  of  the  new  position 

VOL.  II.  18 


206  HISTORY   OF   THE 

which  the  republic  wished  and  ought  to  assume,  under  the 
twofold  necessity  of  national  enlightenment,  and  a  more  real 
independence  of  equal  and  free  worship  before  conscience  and 
the  law. 

"  The  ministry  of  agriculture  and  commerce,  a  ministry 
foreign  from  its  nature  to  politics,  could  only  prepare  with 
zeal,  and  sketch  with  sagacity,  the  new  institutions  summoned 
to  fertilize  the  first  of  useful  arts.  It  extended  the  hand  of 
state  over  the  suffering  interests  of  commerce,  which  you  alone 
can  raise  up  by  making  them  secure. 

"  Such  were  our  different  and  incessant  cares.  Thanks  to 
that  Providence,  which  has  never  more  clearly  manifested  its 
intervention  in  the  cause  of  nations  and  the  human  mind; 
thanks  to  the  people  themselves,  who  have  never  better  shown 
the  treasures  of  reason,  civil  virtue,  generosity,  patience  and 
morality,  —  the  true  civilization  which  fifty  years  of  imperfect 
liberty  have  elaborated  in  their  hearts,  —  we  succeeded  in 
accomplishing,  very  imperfectly  without  doubt,  but  yet  not 
unhappily,  a  part  of  the  immense  and  perilous  task  with  which 
events  had  burthened  us. 

"  We  have  founded  the  republic,  a  government  declared  im- 
possible in  France  on  any  other  conditions  than  foreign  war, 
civil  war,  anarchy,  prisons,  and  the  scaffold.  "We  have  dis- 
played a  republic,  happily  compatible  with  European  peace, 
with  internal  security,  with  voluntary  order,  with  individual 
liberty,  with  the  sweetness  and  amenity  of  manners  of  a  na- 
tion for  whom  hatred  is  a  punishment,  and  harmony  a  national 
instinct. 

"We  have  promulgated  the  great  principles  of  equality, 
fraternity,  and  unity,  which  must,  in  their  daily  development 
in  our  laws,  enacted  by  all  and  for  all,  accomplish  the  unity  of 
the  people  by  the  unity  of  representation. 

"  We  have  rendered  the  right  of  citizenship  universal,  by 
rendering  the  right  of  election  universal ;  and  universal  suf- 
frage has  responded  to  us. 

"  We  have  armed  the  entire  people  in  the  National  Guard, 
and  the  entire  people  have  answered  us  by  devoting  the  arms 
we  confided  to  it  to  the  unanimous  defence  of  the  nation,  order 
and  law. 

"  We  have  gone  through  the  interregnum  with  no  other  ex- 
ecutive force  than  the  entirely  unarmed  moral  authority,  whose 
right  the  nation  voluntarily  recognized  in  us ;  and  these  peo- 


REVOLUTION    «F    1848.  207 

pie  consented  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  governed  by  our  words, 
our  counsels,  and  their  own  generous  inspirations. 

"  We  have  passed  more  than  two  months  of  crisis,  of  cessa- 
tion of  labor,  of  misery,  of  elements  of  political  agitation,  of 
social  sufferings  and  passions,  accumulated  in  countless  masses 
in  a  capital  with  a  population  of  a  million  and  a  half,  without 
property  having  been  violated,  without  anger  menacing  a 
single  life,  without  one  repression,  one  proscription,  one  politi- 
cal imprisonment,  without  one  drop  of  blood  shed  in  our  name, 
saddening  the  government  in  Paris.  We  can  descend  from 
this  long  dictatorship  to  the  public  square,  and  mingle  with  the 
people,  without  one  citizen  being  able  to  ask,  '  What  hast  thou 
done  with  a  citizen  ?  ' 

"  Before  summoning  the  National  Assembly  to  Paris,  we 
completely  assured  its  security  and  independence,  by  arming 
and  organizing  the  National  Guard,  and  giving  you  an  entire 
armed  people  for  your  protection.  There  is  no  longer  a  possi- 
bility of  faction  in  a  republic  where  there  is  no  longer  a  divis- 
ion between  enfranchised  and  disfranchised  citizens,  between 
armed  and  unarmed  citizens.  All  have  their  rights,  all  have 
their  army.  In  such  a  State  insurrection  is  no  longer  the  ex- 
treme right  of  resistance  to  oppression  ;  it  would  be  a  crime. 
He  who  separates  himself  from  the  people  is  no  longer  of  the 
people.  This  is  the  unanimity  we  have  created ;  perpetuate 
it,  for  it  is  the  common  safety. 

"Citizen-representatives',  our  work  is  accomplished ;  yours 
now  begins.  Even  the  presentation  of  a  plan  of  government, 
or  a  project  of  constitution,  on  our  part,  would  have  been  a 
rash  prolongation  of  power,  or  an  infringement  on  your  sover- 
eignty. We  disappear  the  moment  you  rise  to  receive  the 
republic  from  the  hands  of  the  people.  We  will  only  permit 
ourselves  a  single  counsel  and  a  single  wish,  in  the  name  of 
our  citizenship,  and  not  as  members  of  the  provisional  govern- 
ment. This  wish,  citizens,  France  utters  with  us ;  it  is  the 
voice  of  circumstance.  Do  not  waste  time,  that  precious  ele- 
ment of  human  crises.  After  having  absorbed  the  sovereignty 
in  yourselves,  do  not  suffer  a  new  interregnum  to  clog  the 
wheels  of  the  country.  Let  not  a  commission  of  government, 
springing  from  your  body,  allow  power  to  fluctuate  a  single  in- 
stant longer,  precariously  and  provisionally,  in  a  country  which 
has  need  of  power  and  security.  Let  a  committee  on  a  con- 
stitution, emanating  from  your  suflfrages,  report,  without  delay, 
for  your  deliberation  and  vote,  the  simple,  brief  and  democratic 


208  HISTORY    OF    THE 

mechanism  of  a  constitution,  whose  organic  and  secondary 
laws  you  can  afterwards  discuss  at  your  leisure. 

"  In  the  mean  while,  as  members  of  the  government,  we  re- 
store to  you  our  powers. 

"  We  also  confidently  submit  all  our  acts  to  your  judg- 
ment, only  we  pray  you  to  take  into  consideration  the  period 
and  the  difficulties.  Our  conscience  reproaches  us  with  noth- 
ing intentionally  wrong.  Providence  has  favored  our  efforts. 
Grant  an  amnesty  to  our  involuntary  dictatorship.  We  ask 
but  to  return  to  the  ranks  of  good  citizens. 

"  Only  may  history  record  with  indulgence,  beneath  and  at 
a  great  distance  from  the  great  deeds  achieved  by  France,  the 
story  of  these  three  months,  passed  in  the  void  between  a 
fallen  monarchy  and  a  republic  to  be  enthroned  ;  and  may  it, 
instead  of  the  obscure  and  forgotten  names  of  men  who  de- 
voted themselves  to  the  common  safety,  inscribe  on  its  pages 
two  names  only :  the  name  of  the  people,  who  saved  every- 
thing, and  the  name  of  God,  who  blessed  everything,  in  the 
foundation  of  the  republic." 

VII. 

These  words  were  received  with  almost  unanimous  applause 
by  the  representatives  and  the  galleries. 

Lamartine,  having  returned  to  his  bench,  was  obliged  to 
rise  three  times  and  bow  to  the  Assembly,  which  had  itself 
risen  as  he  passed.  Everything  indicated  that  the  popularity 
attached  to  his  name  in  Paris,  and  characterized  by  two  mil- 
lion three  hundred  thousand  votes  in  the  departments,  would 
continue  to  surround  him  in  the  National  Assembly,  if  he  did 
not  himself  lay  it  aside. 

Each  minister  in  succession  brought  to  the  tribune  and  read 
a  special  report  of  the  acts  of  his  department.  All  were  sanc- 
tioned by  the  applause  of  the  Assembly.  Lamartine  displayed, 
more  fully  than  his  colleagues,  a  picture  of  the  position  of  the 
new  republic  with  regard  to  Europe. 

France  was  looking  for  this  picture  as  impatiently  as  she 
had  looked  for  the  manifesto  to  Europe.  She  knew  that  her 
internal  destiny  depended  on  her  attitude  abroad.  She  was 
burning  to  obtain  an  account  of  it,  to  enable  her  to  prognosti- 
cate the  future.  The  discourse  of  the  minister  follows.  It 
was  his  manifesto  in  practice,  verified  by  three  months  of 
proof. 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  209 

"  Citizens,"  said  he,  "  there  are  two  sorts  of  revolutions  in 
history :  revolutions  of  territory,  and  revolutions  of  ideas. 
The  former  are  summed  up  in  conquests,  and  the  overthrow 
of  nationality  and  empires  ;  the  latter  result  in  institutions. 
To  the  first,  war  is  necessary;  to  the  second,  peace,  the 
mother  of  institutions  of  labor  and  of  liberty,  is  precious  and 
dear.  Yet  sometimes  the  changes  of  institutions  efifected  by 
a  nation  within  its  own  limits  become  the  cause  of  anxiety 
and  aggression  against  it  on  the  part  of  other  nations  and 
other  governments,  whence  arises  a  crisis  of  convulsion  and 
irritation  among  neighboring  nations.  A  law  of  nature  wills 
that  truths  shall  be  contagious,  and  that  ideas  shall  tend  to 
assume  their  level,  like  water.  In  the  latter  case,  these  revolu- 
tions participate,  so  to  speak,  of  the  two  natures  of  movements 
which  we  have  noticed.  They  are  pacific,  like  the  revolutions 
of  ideas ;  they  may  be  forced  to  have  recourse  to  arms,  like 
territorial  revolutions.  Their  external  attitude  should  corre- 
spond to  these  two  exigences  of  their  situation.  They  are  in- 
offensive, but  they  are  erect.  Their  policy  may  be  defined  in 
two  words,  an  armed  diplomacy. 

"  These  considerations,  citizens,  from  the  first  hour  of  the 
republic,  have  determined  the  acts  and  words  of  the  provis- 
ional government  in  the  whole,  and  in  the  details  of  the  direction 
of  our  external  afTairs.  It  desired,  and  declared  that  it  desired, 
three  things  :  the  republic  in  France  ;  the  natural  progress  of 
liberal  principles  and  avowed  democracy,  recognized  and  de- 
fended in  its  existence,  its  right,  and  its  time ;  and,  finally, 
peace,  if  peace  were  possible,  honorable,  and  sure,  on  these  con- 
ditions. 

"  We  are  about  to  show  you  what,  from  the  day  of  the  foun- 
dation of  the  republic  to  the  present,  have  been  the  practical 
results  of  this  attitude  of  disinterested  devotion  to  the  demo- 
cratic principle  in  Europe,  combined  with  this  respect  for  the 
material  inviolability  of  territories,  nationalities,  and  govern- 
ments. It  is  the  first  time  in  history  that  an  unarmed  and 
purely  spiritual  principle  has  been  presented  to  Europe,  organ- 
ized, armed,  and  allied  by  another  principle,  which  the  politi- 
cal world  is  shaking  and  modifying  of  itself,  before  the  power, 
not  of  a  nation,  but  an  idea.  To  measure  the  power  of  this 
idea  in  its  full  extent,  let  us  go  back  to  IS15. 

"  1815  is  a  date  which  it  costs  France  an  effort  to  recall. 
After  the  assault  of  the  coalition  against  the  republic  ;  after  the 
prodigies  of  the  convention,  and  the  explosion  of  armed  France 

VOL.   II.  18^ 


210  HISTORY   OF   THE 

to  repel  the  league  of  powers  inimical  to  the  revolution ;  after 
the  expiation  of  the  conquests  of  the  empire,  of  which  France 
would  claim  the  glory,  the  reaction  of  violated  nationalities  and 
humiliated  kings  came  upon  us.  The  name  of  France  had 
ceased  to  have  limits.  The  territorial  limits  of  geographical 
France  were  again  narrowed  by  the  treaties  of  1814  and  1815. 
They  seemed  disproportioned  to  the  name,  the  security,  and 
the  moral  power,  of  a  nation  which  had  increased  so  much  in 
influence,  in  renown,  and  liberty.  The  basis  of  the  French 
people  seemed  so  much  the  more  restricted,  since  that  people 
itself  had  become  greater. 

"  The  treaty  of  1814,  which  settled  our  glory  and  our  mis- 
fortunes, had  taken  from  us  in  colonies  Tobago,  Saint-Lucie, 
the  Isle  of  France  and  its  dependencies,  the  Seychelles,  French 
India  reduced  to  purely  nominal  proportions  ;  and  lastly.  Saint 
Domingo,  of  which  we  were  in  fact  dispossessed,  and  would  be 
forced  to  re-purchase  or  re-conquer. 

"  In  territory  annexed  to  the  national  soil,  the  treaty  of  1814 
added  on  the  north,  as  a  compensation  to  France,  some  strips 
of  frontier,  consisting  of  about  ten  cantons,  added  to  the  depart- 
ments of  the  Moselle  and  Ardennes  ;  on  the  east,  a  precinct  of 
some  districts  about  Landau ;  on  the  south,  the  principal  part 
of  Savoy,  consisting  of  the  arrondissements  of  Chambery  and 
d'Annecy ;  finally,  the  county  of  Montbeliard,  Mulhouse,  and 
the  German  territory  enclosed  within  the  line  of  our  frontiers. 

"  The  treaties  of  1815,  reprisals  for  the  hundred  days  of 
glory  and  reverses,  stripped  us  almost  immediately  of  these 
feeble  indemnities  for  the  wars  of  the  coalition.  They  restored 
French  Savoy  entire  to  Sardinia  ;  they  almost  made  Lyons, 
the  commercial  capital  of  France,  a  garrisoned  city,  exposed 
and  fortified.  Belgium  assumed  from  our  old  soil  Philippe- 
ville,  Marienburg,  and  the  Duchy  of  Bouillon,  where  she  had 
formerly  the  right  of  occupation  and  garrison  ;  Prussia,  Sarre- 
burg,  whose  heart  alone  remained  French  ;  Bavaria,  some  dis- 
tricts ;  Switzerland,  that  tongue  of  land  at  Gex,  which  gave  us 
a  port  on  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  at  Versoix ;  the  demolition  of 
the  fortifications  of  Huninquen,  with  an  entire  interdiction  of 
fortifying  our  frontier  at  less  than  three  leagues'  distance  from 
Bale.  Finally,  they  made  us  renounce,  in  favor  of  the  King 
of  Sardinia,  the  right  of  protection  and  garrison  we  possessed, 
before  the  revolution,  over  the  principality  of  Monaco.  A  hu- 
miliating occupation  of  our  strong  places,  and  an  indemnity  of 
nearly  ten  hundred  i.iillions,  the  penalty  of  our  triumphs,  deci- 


REVOLUTION   OF   1848.  211 

mated  botli  the  external  and  the  reproductive  power  of  the  nation. 
The  restoration  accepted  the  throne  on  these  conditions.  It  was 
its  fault,  and  its  destruction.  Peace,  and  the  charter  itself,  that 
corner-stone  of  liberty,  were  not  a  sufficient  compensation  for 
it.  A  dynasty  could  not  increase  with  impunity  from  the 
weakness  of  the  country.  Still,  only  considering  the  domestic 
interests  of  the  nation,  the  Holy  Alliance  was  an  anti-popular, 
but  not  essentially  an  anti-French,  system. 

"  The  dynasty  of  the  elder  branch  of  the  Bourbons,  in  ally- 
ing itself  as  a  dynasty  to  this  system,  might  find  it  a  point  of 
support  for  its  legitimate  interest,  or  for  the  complements  of 
territory  around  it.  If  Italy,  over  which  Austria  was  resolved 
to  rule  alone,  forbade  the  French  cabinet  all  solid  and  sympa- 
thetic alliance  with  Austria,  the  Russian  alliance  was  open  to 
France.  This  alliance,  favorable  to  the  oriental  aggrandize- 
ment of  Russia,  whose  inclination  is  towards  the  east,  might 
give  to  the  continental  equilibrium,  whose  axis  would  have  been 
Germany,  two  equal  and  preponderating  weights,  at  St.  Peters- 
burg and  Paris.  The  restoration  had  sometimes  a  confused 
plan  of  these  thoughts.  It  dared  acknowledge  friends  and 
enemies.  It  felt  itself  sustained  against  the  jealousies  of  Great 
Britain  by  the  continental  spirit.  With  this  secret  support,  it 
perseveringly  contested  the  supremacy  of  Austria  in  Italy,  made 
an  unpopular  but  not  anti-French  war  on  Spain,  and  conquered 
Algiers.     Its  diplomacy  was  less  anti-national  than  its  policy. 

"The  revolution  of  July  —  a  revolution  born  before  its  time 
—  constituted  a  revolutionary  monarchy  and  a  republican  roy- 
alty. France  had  entire  confidence  in  her  ideas.  The  charac- 
ter of  this  revolution,  at  once  incomplete  and  contradictor)^, 
gave  the  government,  that  sprang  up  in  three  days,  the  troubles 
of  dynastic  royalty,  without  the  advantages  of  legitimate  roy- 
alty. It  was  still  the  Holy  Alliance,  without  the  dogma  and  the 
king ;  a  monarchy  stained  with  an  elective  and  republican 
principle  in  the  eyes  of  kings ;  a  republic  suspected  of  nwn- 
archy  and  treason  to  the  democratic  principle  in  the  eyes  of  the 
people. 

"  The  foreign  and  domestic  policy  of  this  mixed  government 
must  be,  within  and  without,  a  perpetual  struggle  between  the 
two  contrary  principles  which  it  represented.  The  dynastic 
interest  commanded  it  to  enter  at  all  cost  into  the  family  of 
classed  dynasties.  It  was  necessary  to  purchase  this  tolerance 
of  thrones  by  incessant  compliances.  It  was  necessary  to  con- 
quer at  home  the  rigLt  of  being  weak  abroad ;  hence  the  sys- 


213  HISTORY   OF  THE 

tern  of  the  government  of  July,  —  a  France  degraded  to  the 
rank  of  a  seconaary  power  in  Europe,  an  oligarchy  purchased 
by  dint  of  favors  and  seductions  at  home.  One  involved  the 
other ;  the  more  as  the  spirit  of  family,  a  domestic  virtue,  may 
become  a  political  vice  in  the  head  of  a  nation.  Nepotism  kills 
patriotism. 

"  The  monarchy  of  July  weighed  upon  our  foreign  policy 
with  the  weight  of  the  thrones  and  relationships  it  was  pre- 
paring for  its  princes.  One  alone  of  these  ideas  was  correct, 
because  it  corresponded  with  a  great  need  of  humanity — peace  ! 
It  was  on  this  thought  alone  it  existed  for  seventeen  years. 
But  the  peace  which  suits  France  is  not  that  subaltern  peace 
which  purchases  days  and  years  by  belittling  itself,  and  adjourn- 
ing its  influences,  and  veiling  its  principles,  restricting  the  name 
and  shortening  the  arms  of  France.  This  humbles  while  it 
weakens  a  people. 

"  That  peace  may  be  worthy  of  her,  the  republic  should  grow 
great  by  peace.  Now,  to  increase  in  Europe,  there  was  want- 
ing to  the  monarchy  of  July  the  standard  of  an  idea.  Its 
monarchical  standard  !  That  was  stained  by  usurpation.  Its 
democratic  standard  !     It  hid  it  and  disavowed  it  constantly. 

"  Its  foreign  policy  was  forced  to  be  colorless,  like  its  prin- 
ciples. It  was  a  policy  of  negation.  It  avoided  perils ;  it  could 
not  affect  grandeur. 

"  Here  was  the  rule  without.  The  kingdom  of  Holland 
broke  in  two  by  the  recoil  of  the  days  of  July.  Half  formed, 
that  neutral  and  intermediate  power  became,  so  advantageously 
for  France,  the  kingdom  of  Belgium.  No  other  modification 
in  the  territorial  circumstances  of  Europe,  for  the  benefit  of 
France,  took  place  during  these  eighteen  years. 

"  Eussia  showed  a  constant  and  personal  repugnance,  which 
was  not  addressed  to  France  herself,  but  was  reflected  from  the 
dynasty  on  the  nation.  In  vain  did  the  most  pressing  interests 
of  Russia  draw  her  towards  a  French  aUiance.  The  antipathy 
of  kings  interposed  between  the  sympathies  of  nations.  This 
court  employed  in  violently  assimilating  itself  to  Poland,  and 
patiently  seeking  a  road  to  the  Indies  by  way  of  the  Caucasus, 
the  eighteen  years  of  the  monarchy  of  July. 

"  Austria,  by  turns,  caressed  and  insulted  it.  France,  thus 
caressed  and  repulsed  by  the  skilful  but  aged  hand  of  Prince 
Metternich,  sacrificed  the  whole  of  Italy  and  the  confederated 
states  of  Germany  to  the  smiles  of  the  court  of  Vienna.  In 
1831,  insurrection  suppi  sssed  by  concert  in  Italy ;  in  1846, 


=J 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S43.  213 

Cracow  effaced  from  the  map,  measured  the  always  descend- 
ing scale  of  these  obsequious  yieldings  of  the  cabinet  of  the 
Tuileries  to  the  policy  of  Austria. 

"  Prussia,' whose' security  and  grandeur  lie  in  the  French 
alliance,  made  a  desperate  and  unnatural  alliance  with  Russia. 
She  thus  constituted  herself  the  vanguard  of  the  Russian 
power  against  Germany,  of  which  she  is  the  outpost.  By  this 
she  lost  the  Germanic  popularity  which  the  great  Frederic  had 
left  her. 

"  The  states  of  the  confederation  of  the  Rhine,  thus  neg- 
lected by  Prussia,  intimidated  by  Austria,  and  harassed  by 
Russia,  floated  between  the  Prussian  and  Austrian  alliances, 
according  to  time  and  circumstance ;  repulsed  from  the  French 
alliance  by  remembrances  of  1813,  and  by  the  connivance  of 
the  cabinet  of  the  Tuileries,  which  abandoned  them  to  Aus- 
trian omnipotence.  But  during  the  oscillations  of  these  second- 
ary states  of  the  Geraianic  confederation,  a  third  estate,  that 
germ  of  democracy,  was  formed  in  Germany.  It  only  waited 
for  development  the  occasion  of  the  emancipation  of  the  sec- 
ondary states,  and  the  return  of  the  French  idea  to  the  true 
principles  of  alliance  and  friendship  with  the  German  states  of 
the  Rhine. 

"  The  low  countries,  irritated  at  the  dismemberment  of  Bel- 
gium, preserved,  out  of  resentment,  prejudices  against  France. 
They  joined  Russia  on  the  continent,  and  England  on  the 
ocean.  By  these  two  titles  France  was  excluded  from  their 
system  of  alliance. 

"  What  were  our  relations  with  England  ?  Her  policy,  en- 
tirely maritime  before  the  revolution,  was  at  once  maritime  and 
continental  from  the  war  of  1848  in  Spain,  and  from  1813 
ever^'where.  ^Vithoul  repugnance  to  the  dynasty  of  July, 
England  had  lent  this  royalty  a  useful  concurrence  in  the  con- 
ferences of  London  in  1830  and  1831.  By  the  species  of  con- 
tinental mediation  she  had  exercised  between  France,  Germany, 
and  Russia,  England  had  maintained  the  equilibrium  of  the 
continent.  This  equilibrium  was  peace.  M.  de  Talleyrand  had 
converted  this  peace  into  a  draught  of  an  alliance  on  the  liberal 
constitutional  principle  :  this  is  what  has  been  called  the  quad- 
ruple alliance  between  France,  England,  Spain,  and  Portugal. 
If  the  germ  had  not  been  stifled  at  its  origin ;  if  it  had  been  de- 
veloped energetically  by  extension  to  Italy,  Switzerland,  and  the 
German  Rhenish  provinces,  it  might  have  changed  to  a  system 
of  liberal  progress  for  the  nations  of  the  south  and  east,  and  ere- 


214  HISTORY    OF   THE 

ated  a  family  of  democratic  nations  and  governments  in'V'Til- 
nerable  to  the  absolute  powers.  But,  to  accomplish  this,  France 
required  a  government  which  dared  avow  its  principle.  The 
court  of  the  Tuileries  only  labored  to  efface  its  own,  or  cause  it 
to  be  forgotten.  Purely  dynastic  ambitions,  conceived  and 
often  revealed  by  the  French  government  in  relation  to  Spain, 
did  not  long  delay  the  ruin  of  that  British  alliance  solicited  by 
so  many  favors,  and  betrayed  by  so  much  egotism,  to  the  detri- 
ment of  France  and  free  nations. 

"  The  eastern  question,  on  which  the  policy  of  the  world 
turned  from  1S3S  to  1841,  was  the  first  occasion  of  coldness, 
soon  followed  by  diplomatic  conflict  and  bitterness,  between  the 
two  governments.  You  are  acquainted  with  that  negotiation, 
which  shook  peace,  armed  Europe,  and  ended  in  the  shame 
and  sequestration  of  France. 

"  The  Ottoman  empire  was  decomposed.  The  Pacha  of 
Egypt,  profiting  by  its  weakness,  invaded  half  the  empire,  sub- 
stituting Arabic  for  Turkish  tyranny.  The  vacancy  sunk  in 
the  east  by  the  disappearance  of  Turkey  was  about  to  be 
crowned  inevitably,  either  by  Islamism  under  another  name, 
that  of  Ibrahim,  or  by  Russian  or  British  omnipotence.  France 
had  three  ways  of  meeting  and  deciding  the  oriental  question  : 
either  frankly  to  sustain  the  Ottoman  empire  against  the  re- 
volted pacha  and  the  whole  world ;  or  to  ally  herself  with 
Russia,  by  yielding  to  her  leaning  towards  Constantinople,  and 
to  obtain  at  this  price  a  Russian  alliance  and  territorial  com- 
pensations on  the  Rhine  ;  or  to  ally  herself  with  England,  by 
yielding  her  precedence  in  Egypt,  her  necessary  road  to  the 
Indies,  and  regaining  the  English  alliance  at  this  price,  receiv- 
ing in  exchange  continental  advantages,  and  important  French 
protectorships  in  Egypt. 

"  The  cabinet  of  the  Tuileries  knew  not  how  to  be  frank, 
and  dared  not  be  ambitious.  It  abandoned  Turkey  to  her  ag- 
gressor, then  abandoned  this  aggressor  himself  to  Russia,  to 
England,  and  to  Austria.  It  reconstructed,  by  its  own  folly, 
the  moral  coalition  of  the  world  against  us.  All  ended  in 
the  exclusion  of  the  French  cabinet  from  Europe,  and  the 
note  of  the  8th  of  October,  a  confession  of  weakness  after 
acts  of  defiance,  an  acceptance  of  isolation  in  the  midst  of 
Europe  bound  together  in  one  sheaf  of  resentment  against  us. 

"  The  treaty  of  reconciliation  of  the  30th  of  July,  1841, 
vainly  palliated  this  position.  The  marriage  of  a  prince  of 
the  French  dynasty  with  an  eventual  heiress  of  the  Spanish 


REVOLUTICN    OF    1648. 


215 


crown  \\'as  thenceforth  the  only  idea  of  the  dynastic  policy,  to 
which  France  was  rendered  subordinate.  The  accomplish- 
ment of  this  object  must  soon  have  severed  the  last  bonds  of 
friendship  between  England  and  France.  Too  little  ambitious 
for  the  French  nation,  the  cabinet  of  the  Tuileries  aimed  at 
two  thrones  at  once  for  one  family.  The  posthumous  policy 
of  the  house  of  Bourbon  was  rashly  substituted  for  the  policy 
of  liberty  and  peace  upon  the  continent.  France  reaped  nothing- 
from  this  marriage  but  the  lasting  enmity  of  the  British  cab- 
inet, the  jealousy  of  courts,  the  suspicions  of  Spain,  and  the 
certainty  of  a  second  war  of  succession.  From  this  first  ver- 
tigo of  royalty,  statesmen  might  conjecture  other  approaching 
vertigoes,  and  foresee  its  fall. 

"  New  symptoms,  before  a  great  while,  confirmed  this.  Sus- 
pected by  Spain,  odious  to  Russia,  dishonored  in  Turkey, 
indifferent  to  Prussia,  and  menacing  to  England,  the  dynastic 
policy  of  the  French  cabinet  turned,  against  nature,  to  Austria. 
This  perversity  cost  it  not  only  its  greatness  and  security ;  it 
cost  it  its  honor.  To  obtain  from  Austria  the  pardon  of  the 
house  of  Bourbon  in  Spain,  it  became  necessary  to  lower  the 
standard  of  revolution  before  Austria  everywhere,  and  to  sac- 
rifice to  her  at  once  Italy,  Switzerland,  the  Rhine,  —  the 
independence  and  the  rights  of  nations.  It  was  necessary  to 
form  with  Austria  the  league  of  absolutism,  by  choking,  to  her 
profit  and  our  shame,  the  germs  of  independence,  liberalism, 
and  national  strength,  which  showed  themselves  from  the 
straits  of  Sicily  to  the  heart  of  the  Alps.  The  French  cabinet 
ventured  to  practise  this  servile  policy,  and  to  defend  it  before 
a  French  Chamber.  The  revolutionary  heart  of  France  rose 
with  indignation  in  her  bosom.  The  dynastic  ministry  pur- 
chased the  vote  of  a  majority  for  selling  with  impunity  the 
national  principle  and  the  democratic  principle,  in  the  negoti- 
ations relative  to  Switzerland  and  Italy.  A  few  days  after- 
wards, it  dragged  into  the  abyss  that  royalty  which  had  itself 
dragged  it  down  in  its  personality. 

"  Thus,  after  eighteen  years  of  reign,  and  of  a  diplomacy 
which  was  thought  skilful  because  it  was  interested,  the 
dynasty  surrendered  France  to  the  republic,  more  encircled, 
naore  bound  by  treaties  and  limits,  more  incapable  of  motion, 
more  denuded  of  external  influences  and  negotiations,  more 
surrounded  by  snares  and  impossibilities,  than  she  had  been  at 
any  epoch  of  the  monarchy ;  imprisoned  in  the  letter  of  the 
treaties  of  1815,  so  often  violated  against  her ;  excluded  from 


216  HISTORY    OF    THE 

all  the  east ;  an  accomplice  of  Austria  in  Italy  and  Switzerland  ; 
subservient  to  England,  at  Lisbon ;  compromised,  without  ad- 
vantage, at  Madrid;  obsequious  at  Vienna;  timid  at  Berlin  ; 
hated  at  St.  Petersburg;  discredited,  through  ambiguous  faith, 
at  London ;  deserted  by  nations  for  her  abandonment  of  the 
democratic  principle  before  a  moral  coalition  everywhere  formed 
against  France,  and  which  only  left  her  the  choice  of  an  ex- 
treme war  against  all,  or  the  acceptance  of  the  subaltern  part 
of  a  secondary  power,  watched  throughout  the  European  world  ; 
condemned  to  languish  and  bend  for  a  cenwiry  under  the 
weight  of  a  dynasty  for  pardoning  kings,  or  a  revolutionary 
principle  for  obtaining  amnesty,  or  betraying  nations, 

"The  republic,  finding  France  in  these  conditiors  of  isola- 
tion and  subjection,  had  two  parts  to  assume  :  —  to  make  an 
outbreak  against  all  the  thrones  and  territories  of  ths  conti- 
nent, —  to  rend  the  map  of  Europe,  declare  war,  and  lau'.'/ch  the 
armed  democratic  principle  everywhere,  without  knowing 
whether  it  would  fall  upon  a  soil  prepared  for  its  germination, 
or  an  improper  soil,  there  to  be  choked  in  blood ;  or  to  deoidre 
republican  peace  and  French  fraternity  to  all  nations,  —  to  declare 
respect  for  the  governments,  laws,  characters,  manners  and 
wishes,  of  territories  and  nations,  —  to  raise  on  high,  but  with  a 
friendly  hand,  her  principle  of  independence  and  democracy 
over  the  world,  and  to  speak  to  the  nations  without  constraint, 
and  without  hurrying  events. 

"  We  do  not  arm  the  new  idea  with  fire  and  steel,  like  barba- 
rians. We  only  arm  it  with  its  own  lustre.  We  do  not  im- 
pose on  any  one  forms  or  imitations  premature  or  incompatible, 
perhaps,  with  nature ;  but  if  the  liberty  of  this  or  that  part 
of  Europe  kindles  from  ours,  if  enthralled  nationalities,  if 
trampled  rights,  if  legitimate  and  oppressed  independencies 
arise,  establish  themselves,  enter  into  the  democratic  family  of 
nations,  and  appeal  to  us  to  defend  their  rights,  in  conformity 
with  institutions,  France  is  there.  Republican  France  is  not 
only  the  country,  she  is  the  soldier,  of  the  democratic  principle 
in  the  future. 

"  It  is  this  last  policy,  citizens,  which  the  provisional  gov- 
ernment thought  it  ought  to  adopt  unanimously,  while  waiting 
till  the  nation,  embodied  in  you,  should  take  its  own  destinies 
into  its  own  hands. 

"  What  have  been  the  results  of  this  policy  of  armed  diplo- 
macy,  upon   the  continent,  during  seventy-two  days  ?     You 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  217 

know  them,  and  Europe  beholds  them  with  an  astonishment 
that  belongs  less  to  fear  than  to  admiration. 

"  Italy,  already  stirred  in  its  patriotism  by  the  Italian  and 
democratic  soul  of  Pius  IX.,  shakes  successively,  but  through- 
out, at  the  echo  of  the  triumph  of  the  people  of  Paris.  Satis- 
fied wholly  with  regard  to  French  ambition,  loudly  and  frankly 
disavowed  by  us,  she  passionately  embraces  our  principles,  and 
abandons  herself,  with  confidence,  to  the  future  of  independence 
and  liberty,  in  which  the  French  people  will  be  her  ally. 

"  Sicil}  rises  against  the  domination  of  Naples,  claiming  at 
first  her  constitution.  Irritated  by  refusal,  she  heroically  re- 
conquers her  soil  and  her  citadels ;  tardy  concessions  appease 
her  no  longer;  she  separates  herself  completely,  and  convokes 
her  own  parliament.  She  proclaims  herself  sole  mistress  of 
her  destinies.  She  avenges  herself  for  her  long  subjection  to 
the  house  of  Bourbon,  by  declaring  that  the  princes  of  the 
house  of  Naples  shall  be  forever  excluded  from  the  contingen- 
cies of  the  constitutional  throne  of  Sicily. 

"  At  Naples,  even  the  constitution  promulgated  by  the  king, 
on  the  eve  of  the  French  republic,  appears  illusory  the  next 
morning.  The  monarchy,  besieged  by  demonstrations  of  the 
people,  descends,  from  concession  to  concession,  to  the  level  of 
a  democratic  royalty  of  1791. 

'i  Pius  IX.,  accepting  the  character  of  an  Italian  patriot,  re- 
tains only  the  pontifical  sway,  and  makes  Rome  the  federative 
centre  of  a  true  republic,  of  which  he  already  shows  himself  less 
the  crowned  chief  than  the  foremost  citizen.  He  makes  use 
of  the  force  of  the  movement  which  bears  him  along,  instead  of 
contending  against  it.     This  movement  is  accelerating-. 

"  Tuscany  follows  the  example.  Palermo,  Placenzia,  Modena, 
strive  vainly  to  rest  upon  Austria,  to  struggle  with  the  spirit 
of  life  in  Italy.  Their  princes  yield;  nationality  triumphs. 
The  dynasty  of  Lucca  is  swept  away.  Venice  proclaims  her 
own  republic,  undecided  yet  whether  she  shall  isolate  herself 
in  her  lagunes,  or  join  the  republican  or  constitutional  fasces 
of  northern  Italy. 

'•  The  King  of  Sardinia,  long  the  hope  of  national  unity  in 
Italy,  while  at  the  same  time  his  government  was  the  terror 
of  the  liberal  spirit  at  Turin,  in  contact  with  the  French  revo- 
lution, has  put  an  end  to  a  contradiction  fetal  to  his  greatness. 
By  a  popular  constitution,  he  gives  a  pledge  to  Italian  liberalism. 

"  Lombardy,  by  this  token,  knows  that  the  hour  of  her  inde- 
pendence has  come.    Milan,  disarmed,  triumphs  in  an  unequal 

VOL.  u.  19 


218  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Struggle  with  the  army  of  occupation  that  enchains  her.  The 
whole  of  Lombardy  rises  against  the  house  of  Austria.  As 
yet  she  only  proclaims  her  enfranchisement,  that  she  may  not 
mingle  a  question  of  institution  with  a  question  of  war.  The 
cry  of  Italy  compels  the  King  of  Sardinia  to  disengage  himself, 
like  the  Pope,  and  like  Tuscany,  from  the  old  anti-national 
treaties  with  Austria.  He  marches  into  Lombardy ;  contin- 
gents pour  from  all  quarters  upon  this  field  of  battle.  The 
campaign  of  independence  is  pursued  slowly  by  Italy  alone,  but 
in  the  face  of  armed  Switzerland  and  France,  ready  to  act  if 
the  interest  of  their  principle  or  the  safety  of  their  frontiers 
should  seem  compromised. 

"  Cross  the  Alps  ;  the  result  of  the  unarmed  policy  of  France 
is  not  less  logically  developed  there  by  events  and  rapidity  in 
results.  They  burst  forth  from  the  very  focus  of  the  opposite 
principle. 

"  After  the  fourteenth  of  March,  the  revolution  breaks  forth 
at  Vienna.  The  troops  are  vanquished,  the  palace  of  the  em- 
perors is  opened  to  the  people,  to  expel  the  old  sj'stem  from  it,  in 
the  person  of  its  most  inflexible  statesman,  Prince  Metternich. 
The  assembly  of  the  notables  of  the  monarchy  is  convoked ;  every 
liberty  armed  by  democracy  is  granted ;  Hungary  becomes  na- 
tional, and  isolates  itself  by  an  almost  complete  separation  from 
the  empire,  abolishes  feudal  rights,  sells  ecclesiastical  property, 
and  nominates  a  ministry  for  herself.  As  a  token  of  complete 
separation,  she  -even  gives  herself  a  ministry  of  foreign  affairs. 

"  Bohemia,  on  her  part,  makes  sure  of  a  separate  federal 
constitution. 

"  By  these  three  different  enfranchisements  of  Hungary,  Bo- 
hemia, and  Italy,  Austria,  revolutionized  within,  restrained 
without,  reigns  over  only  twelve  millions  of  compact  men. 

"  Three  days  after  the  events  in  Vienna,  on  the  eighteenth 
of  March,  the  people  fight  and  triumph  in  the  streets  of  Berlin. 
The  King  of  Prussia,  whose  enlightened  spirit  and  popular  heart 
seemed  on  terms  of  intelligence  even  with  those  who  fought 
against  his  soldiers,  hastens  to  yield  everything.  An  entirely 
democratic  law  of  election  is  promulgated,  even  before  the  constit- 
uent assembly  has  met.  Prussian  Poland  claims  its  nationality 
distinct  from  Posen.  The  king  consents,  and  thus  commences 
to  sketch  the  first  draught  of  a  Polish  nationality,  which  other 
events  will  have  to  increase  and  strengthen  in  another  quarter. 

"  In  the  kinsfdom  of  Wirteraburg  the  king  abolishes  the  cen- 
sorship  on  the  third  of  March,  and  yields  the  liberty  of  the  press 
'ind  the  arming  of  the  people. 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  219 

"  On  the  fourth  of  March,  the  Grand  Duke  of  Baden,  too  near 
a  neighbor  to  France  not  to  permit  ideas  which  cross  the  Rhine 
to  take  their  level,  grants  the  liberty  of  the  press,  the  armament 
of  the  people,  the  abolition  of  feudal  rights,  and  finally  the 
promise  of  concurring  in  the  establishment  of  a  united  German 
parliament,  that  congress  of  Germanic  democracy  from  which, 
perhaps,  the  new  order  may  go  forth. 

"  oil  the  fifth  of  March,  the  King  of  Bavaria  abdicates,  and, 
after  fighting  in  the  streets,  gives  up  the  throne  to  the  prince, 
who  unites  his  cause  with  the  popular  cause  at  Munich. 

"  From  the  sixth  to  the  eleventh  of  March,  a  similar  abdica- 
tion of  the  sovereign  of  Hesse-Darmstadt;  arming  of  the  people, 
the  rights  of  association,  the  press,  and  the  jury,  and  a  French 
code  at  Mayenne,  are  all  granted. 

"  The  Elector  of  Hesse-Cassel,  whose  resistance  to  the  intro- 
duction of  the  democratic  principle  was  notorious  in  Germany, 
grants  his  armed  people  the  same  pledges,  and  adds  the  conces- 
sion of  the  principle  of  a  German  parliament. 

"  The  insurrection  extorts  from  the  Duke  of  Nassau  the  sup- 
pression of  tithes,  political  organization,  the  armament  of  the 
people,  the  German  parliament. 

"On  the  fifteenth  of  March,  Leipsic  rises,  and  obtains  from 
the  King  of  Saxony,  already  a  constitutional  prince,  his  acces- 
sion to  the  principle  of  the  German  parliament. 

"  On  the  same  day,  an  imperious  popular  demonstration 
compels  the  Prince  of  Oldenburg  to  convoke  a  representation. 

"  The  people  of  Mecklenburg  arm  a  few  days  after,  and  ap- 
point a  preparatory  assembly  to  elect  the  German  parliament. 

"  Hamburg  adds  a  more  democratic  reform  to  her  constitu- 
tion, already  republican. 

"  Bremen  reforms  her  senate,  and  adheres  to  the  German 
parliament. 

"  Lubec,  after  violent  commotions,  wins  the  same  principle. 

"  Finally,  on  the  eighteenth  of  March,  the  King  of  the  Neth- 
erlands abolishes  institutions  restricting  liberty  in  the  grai.d 
duchy  of  Luxembourg,  where  the  tri-colored  flag  floats  by  itself 
as  a  spontaneous  demonstration  of  the  French  principle. 

"  All  these  decompositions  of  the  old  system,  all  these  ele- 
ments of  federal  unity,  are  now  combined  at  Frankfort. 

"  Up  to  this  date  the  Diet  of  Frankfort  had  been  the  obedient 
instrument  of  the  omnipotence  of  the  two  great  Germanic  pow- 
ers, Vienna  and  Berlin,  over  their  feeble  allies  of  the  confeder- 
ation.    The  idea  of  a  par  iament  seating  itself  in  permanence 


220  HISTORY    OF   THE 

in  the  heart  of  Germany,  rises  to  contact  with  our  ideas.  This 
parliament  of  nations,  henceforth  representing  nations  instead 
of  courts,  becomes  the  foundation  of  a  new  Germanic  federation, 
which  emancipates  the  weak,  and  forms  the  corner-stone  of  a 
varied  but  single  democracy.  The  increasing  democratic  liber- 
ty of  Germany  will  necessarily  rest  its  support  on  a  democratic 
power  also,  with  no  other  ambition  than  the  alliance  of  princi- 
ples and  the  safety  of  territories  ;  this  is  naming  France. 

"  I  will  not  follow  into  tlie  other  States  of  Europe  the  more 
cr  less  rapid  march  of  national  principles  and  liberal  principles, 
accelerated  by  the  revolution  of  February.  Ideas  invade  their 
soil  everywhere,  and  these  ideas  bear  your  name.  Every- 
where you  have  only  to  choose  between  a  safe  and  honorable 
peace,  or  a  partial  war  with  nations  for  allies. 

"  Thus,  by  the  sole  fact  of  a  double  principle,  the  democratic 
principle  and  the  sympathetic  principle,  France,  externally  rest- 
ing one  hand  on  the  rights  of  nations,  and  the  other  on  the 
iaaggressive  but  imposing  body  of  four  armies  of  observation, 
witnesses  the  shaking  of  the  continent  equally  without  ambi- 
tion and  weakness,  ready  to  negotiate  or  fight,  to  limit  or 
expand  herself,  according  to  her  honor  and  the  security  of  her 
frontiers. 

"  Her  frontiers  ?  I  employ  a  word  which  has  lost  a  portion 
of  its  significance  under  the  republic  ;  it  is  principle  which 
becomes  the  true  frontier  of  France.  It  is  not  her  soil  which 
enlarges,  but  her  influence,  her  sphere  of  radiation  and  attrac- 
tion on  the  continent ;  the  number  of  her  allies,  the  disinter- 
ested and  intellectual  patronage  she  will  exercise  over  nations ; 
it  is  the  French  system,  in  fine,  substituted  in  three  days  and 
three  months  for  the  system  of  the  Holy  Alliance. 

"  The  republic,  at  the  first  word,  has  comprehended  the 
new  policy  which  the  philosophy,  the  humanity,  and  reason,  of 
the  age  was  at  length  to  introduce  by  the  hands  of  our  country 
among  nations.  I  would  have  no  other  proof  that  democracy 
has  been  a  divine  inspiration,  and  that  it  will  triumph  in  Eu- 
rope as  rapidly  and  gloriously  as  it  has  triumphed  at  Paris. 
France  will  have  changed  her  glory  ;  —  that  is  ail. 

"  If  a  few  minds,  yet  behindhand  in  the  understanding  of 
true  strength  and  true  grandeur,  or  impatient  to  press  on  the 
fortune  of  France,  should  reproach  the  republic  with  not  hav- 
ing done  violence  to  nations  by  offering  them  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet  a  liberty  which  would  have  resembled  conquest, 
we  will  say  to  them :    See  what  a  royalty  of  eighteen  years 


DEVOLUTION    OF    1S49.  221 

did  for  France;  see  what  the  republic  has  done,  in  less  than 
three  months !  Compare  the  France  of  the  23d  of  July  with 
the  France  of  the  6th  of  May ;  and  take  even  patience  for 
glory,  and  grant  time  to  the  principle  which  labors,  combats, 
transforms  and  assimilates  the  world  for  you ! 

"  France  externally  was  imprisoned  by  limits  which  she  could 
only  break  through  by  a  general  war.  Europe,  in  nations  and 
governments,  was  a  system  of  one  piece  against  us  ;  we  had 
five  great  powers,  compact  and  united  by  a  common  anti-revo- 
lutionary interest,  against  France.  Spain  was  placed  as  the 
prize  of  war  between  these  powers  and  ourselves.  Switzerland 
was  betrayed,  Italy  sold,  Germany  threatened  and  hostile. 
France  was  obliged  to  veil  her  popular  nature  and  belittle  her- 
self, for  fear  of  agitating  a  nation,  or  disturbing  a  king.  She 
sunk  under  a  dynastic  peace  and  disappeared  from  the  rank  of 
primary  national  individualities,  a  rank  which  her  geography, 
nature,  and  genius,  command  her  to  maintain. 

"  This  weight  lifted  off,  behold  what  a  difTerent  destiny  re- 
publican pe?.ce  creates  for  her.  The  great  powers  watch,  first 
with  anxiety,  but  soon  with  security,  the  slightest  of  her  move- 
ments. Not  one  of  them  protests  against  the  eventual  and 
legitimate  revision  of  the  treaties  of  1815,  which  a  word  from 
us  has  as  thoroughly  obliterated  as  the  march  of  a  hundred 
thousand  men.  England  can  no  longer  suspect  us  of  ambition 
in  Spain.  Russia  has  time  to  reflect  on  the  disinterested  ques- 
tion which  arises  between  that  great  empire  and  ourselves,  — 
the  constitutional  reconstruction  of  independent  Poland.  We 
can  have  no  conflict  at  the  north,  except  in  defending  there,  as 
devoted  auxiliaries,  the  rights  and  safety  of  the  Sclavonic  and 
Germanic  nations.  The  empire  of  Austria  only  treats  touch- 
ing the  ransom  of  Italy.  Prussia  renounces  aggrandizement 
except  through  liberty.  The  whole  of  Germany  is  escaping 
from  the  influence  of  these  powers,  and  forms  a  natural  alli- 
ance with  us.  There  is  an  approaching  coalition  of  nations 
reclining  from  necessity  on  France,  instead  of  being  turned 
against  us,  as  they  were  by  the  policy  of  courts.  Switzerland 
is  strengthening,  by  concentrating  herself.  The  whole  of  Italy 
is  up,  and  almost  free.  A  cry  of  distress  would  summon  France 
thither,  not  to  conquer,  but  protect  her.  The  only  conquest 
we  would  have  beyond  the  Rhine  and  the  Alps  is  the  friend- 
ship of  disenthralled  communities. 

"In  a  word,  we  were  thirty-six  millions  of  men  isolated  on 
the  continent;  no  European  idea  was  allowed  us,  no  collective 

VOL.  II.  19*^ 


222 


HISTORY   OF   THE 


action  was  possible  for  us.  Our  system  wus  compression.  Our 
horizon  was  narrow ;  air  as  well  as  dignity  was  wanting  to  our 
policy.  Our  system  now  is  the  system  of  a  democratic  truth, 
which  enlarges  to  the  proportions  of  a  universal  social  faith. 
Our  horizon  is  the  future  of  civilized  nations  ;  our  vital  air  is 
the  breath  of  liberty  in  the  free  bosoms  of  the  whole  universe. 
Three  months  have  not  yet  rolled  away,  and  if  Democracy, 
like  Protestantism,  must  have  its  thirty  years'  war,  instead  of 
marching  at  the  head  of  thirty-six  millions  of  men,  France, 
reckoning  in  her  system  of  allies  Switzerland,  Italy,  and  the 
emancipated  nations  of  Germany,  will  march  at  the  head  of 
eighty-eight  millions  of  confederates  and  friends.  What  vic- 
tory could  the  republic  have  gained  equivalent  in  value  to 
such  a  confederation,  won  without  the  cost  of  a  single  life,  and' 
cemented  by  the  conviction  of  our  disinterestedness  ?  France, 
by  the  fall  of  royalty,  has  risen  from  her  abasement,  as  a  vessel 
loaded  with  a  foreisfn  weight  rises  as  soon  as  she  is  lightened. 

"  Such,  citizens,  is  the  exact  picture  of  our  actual  external 
position.  The  happiness  and  glory  of  this  situation  belong 
entirely  to  the  republic.  We  only  accept  its  responsibility,  and 
we  shall  always  felicitate  ourselves  on  having  appeared  before 
the  representation  of  the  country  to  restore  it  peace,  and  assure 
it  grandeur,  with  its  hands  full  of  alliances,  and  unstained  with 
human  blood." 

Long  salvos  of  applause  followed  this  discourse.  Its  publi- 
cation and  transmission  to  all  the  departments  and  foreign 
powers  was  called  for. 

The  Assembly  voted  that  the  provisional  government  had 
deserved  well  of  the  nation. 


VIII. 

While  Paris  was  intoxicated  with  the  security  and  joy  m- 
spired  by  the  restoration  of  national  sovereignty  and  the  har- 
mony existing  between  the  representatives  and  the  dictators,  a 
great  question  rose  in  the  public  mind,  and  particularly  in  the 
heart  of  Lamartine. 

There  was  an  interval  to  pass  between  the  accession  of  the 
National  Assembly  and  the  vote  on  the  constitution.  Who 
should  decree  the  form  of  the  new  executive  power  ?  What 
should  be  the  nature  of  this  intervening  power  ^  Should  the 
dictators  continue  to  exercise  it,  in  the  presence  and  under  the 
sanction  of  the  Assembly  ^     Should  the  Assembly  exercise  it 


^ 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  223 

directly,  and  through  the  medium  of  committees  of  government 
constantly  renewed  ?  Finally,  should  the  Assembly  delegate 
it?  And,  in  this  case,  should  it  delegate  it  to  one  or  many? 
Such  were  the  three  hypotheses  which  divided  opinion. 

The  first  plan  ?  That  was  a  continuance  of  the  dictator- 
ship. The  second  ?  That  was  anarchy  and  confusion  of  power. 
The  third  alone  was  practicable.  The  necessity  of  delegating 
powers  by  the  Assembly  was  recognized  by  almost  unanimous 
accord.  But  beyond  that  point  there  was  a  division  of  opin- 
ion. Some — and  these  were  men  recently  arrived  in  Paris,  the 
least  informed  on  the  state  of  affairs,  the  most  impatient  for  a 
return  to  ancient  forms  —  wished  the  Assembly  to  appoint  a 
single  temporary  dictator,  a  prime  minister  at  the  same  time, 
who  should  appoint  the  other  ministers,  and  govern  for  the 
body. 

The  smaller  number  wished  the  Assembly  to  appoint  by 
vote  a  council  or  executive  commission  of  government,  an 
intermediate  and  fixed  power  between  the  Assembly  and  the 
administration.  This  committee  should  appoint  and  dismiss 
ministers.  It  should  be,  while  waiting  for  the  constitution,  no 
longer  a  dictatorship,  but  the  collective  presidency  of  the  re- 
public. 

This  question  particularly  interested  Lamartine ;  and  it  was 
to  him  alone  that  its  resolution  really  belonged.  France,  Par- 
is, the  Assembly,  and  Europe,  had  their  eyes  at  this  moment 
upon  him.  Men  waited  for  his  resolve,  some  to  applaud  and 
encourage  him  to  the  dictatorship,  others  to  accuse  and  curse 
him  if  he  did  not  accept  the  part  the  immense  majority  de- 
creed him. 

He  could  not  avoid  seeing  that  his  popularity  in  Paris  had 
increased,  amounting  to  a  passion,  instead  of  having  been  ex- 
hausted by  three  months  of  fortunate  government  in  the  midst 
of  so  many  storms ;  that  the  ten  elections  which  had  just  im- 
pressed him  with  a  sort  of  title  as  a  universal  representative, 
that  the  seven  or  eight  millions  of  votes  thrown  by  the  whole 
surface  of  the  republic,  and  finally  the  favor  of  six  or  seven 
hundred  out  of  nine  hundred  representatives,  designated  him, 
and  imposed  him,  so  to  speak,  on  the  choice  of  the  Assembly, 
as  the  man  of  the  emergency,  and  the  only  and  predestined 
chief  of  power. 

He  knew  better  than  any  one  else,  after  the  experience  of  a 
divided  and  stormy  government,  the  advantages  of  the  unity 
of  the  temporary  power  in  one  hand      He  was  sensible  of  pos- 


224  HISTORY   OF    THE 

sessing  the  strength,  and  believed  he  had  the  prudence,  neces- 
sary to  manage  this  power  mildly  and  firmly,  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  Assembly.  He  alone  held  the  clue  of  Europe.  He  flat- 
tered himself  he  should  give  the  Assembly  an  immense  ascen- 
dency without  kindling  war,  and  by  a  single  energetic  gesture 
prepared  and  accomplished  opportunely  beyond  the  Alps.  The 
popularity  of  all  good  public  sentiment  which  attached  to  him 
touched  him  more  than  it  inflated  him.  He  blushed  at  having 
the  appearance  of  ingratitude  to  his  country,  by  coldly  refusing 
its  summons.  The  glory  of  installing  the  National  Assembly, 
after  having  called  it  forth,  and  of  being  the  first  legal  power, 
after  having  been  the  first  revolutionary  power,  of  his  country, 
tempted  him.  The  reputation  of  founder  and  protector  of  the 
nascent  constitution  appeared  to  him  seductive  and  luminous 
in  the  distance  of  history. 

He  felt,  therefore,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  only  an  incli- 
nation to  the  part.  But  ambition  and  glory  did  not  stifle  his 
good  sense  and  honesty.  He  thought,  above  all  things,  of  the 
republic  and  his  country.  And  here  is  what  he  said  to  himself, 
and  replied  to  his  counsellors,  during  three  or  four  sleepless 
nights  passed  in  communing  with  himself  before  his  conscience 
and  the  future  :  — 

"  The  republican  feeling  is  feeble  in  France.  This  sentiment 
is  ill  represented  in  Paris  and  the  departments  by  men  who 
repulse  the  republic,  and  who  hold  it  up  to  the  horror  and  dread 
of  the  people.  The  republic  is  a  surprise  which  we  have  made  a 
miracle,  by  the  wisdom  of  the  people  of  Paris,  and  the  character 
of  mildness,  unanimity,  and  concord,  wherewith  we  have  stamped 
it.  But  nnpressions  are  fickle  and  brief  with  the  people,  partic- 
ularly in  France.  No  sooner  will  the  majority  of  the  people, 
who  rushed  with  the  enthusiasm  of  fear  into  the  bosom  of  a 
moderate  republic,  have  recovered  their  self-possession,  than 
they  vAW  attack  their  salvation,  and  turn  against  the  republicans. 
If  there  are  no  republicans  of  ancient  date  then  in  the  govern- 
ment, or  if  these  republicans,  already  few,  are  divided  in  the 
face  of  their  common  enemies,  what  will  become  of  the  repub- 
lic ?  And  if  the  republic,  the  only  existing  refuge  of  society, 
yields  to  the  precarious  and  factitious  restorations  of  exhausted 
monarchies,  what  will  become  of  France  ?  The  republicans 
must  not,  therefore,  at  any  price,  be  divided  at  the  very  outset 
of  the  republican  institution.  We  must  continue  to  restrain 
them,  to  moderate  them,  to  rally  them  as  long  as  possible, 
until  the  republic  shall  be  deeply  enough  rooted  in  facts  and 


E  EVOLUTION   OF    1843.  225 

ideas  to  employ  indifferently  republicans  of  all  dates,  with  re- 
publicans of  the  hour. 

"Now,  if  I  alone  receive  power  from  the  hands  of  an  Assem- 
bly not  republican,  or  but  slightly  republican,  what  will  happen  ? 
One  of  two  things,  —  either  I  shall  expel  myprincipal  colleagues 
from  power,  and  then  this  expurgated  power  will  be  suspicious 
and  odious  to  all  the  republicans  of  yesterday  ;  or,  I  shall  sum- 
mon these  colleagues  to  power,  and  then  I  shall  be  suspicious 
and  odious  to  the  National  Assembly.  For  I  cannot  conceal 
that  the  Assembly  appoints  me  only  on  the  tacit  condition  of 
excluding  them.  Thus,  on  one  side,  I  ruin  the  republic  by  prun- 
ing it  too  soon  ;  or  I  declare  war  on  the  national  representation 
by  imposing  on  them  men  whom  they  hold  in  distrust  and  fear. 
This  is  an  alternative  which  a  politician  cannot  accept,  unless 
wishing  to  destroy  the  republic  and  oppress  the  national  repre- 
sentation of  his  country. 

"  Besides,  this  alternative  even  is  not  admissible.  For  who 
are  those  of  my  colleagues  of  the  provisional  government,  my 
equals  of  yesterday,  who  will  consent  to  be  my  subordinates 
to-morrow,  and  to  engage  their  name,  their  honor,  and  their 
responsibility,  in  my  acts?  None.  I  shall  be  deserted  by  them 
immediately,  and  compelled  to  take  my  ministers  from  among 
unknown  men  or  the  avowed  adversaries  of  the  republic. 

"  But  suppose,"  added  Lamartine,  "  that  I  accept  this  fatal 
alternative,  and  that  I  take  the  single  power  decreed  to  me  by 
the  hands  of  the  republic,  —  what  will  take  place  to-morrow  ? 
This  :  — 

"  All  my  rivals  in  the  minority  of  the  provisional  government, 
all  my  friends  even  in  the  majority,  all  the  republicans,  social- 
ists, terrorists  or  moderates,  all  the  representatives,  to  the  num- 
ber of  three  or  four  hundred,  who  have  been  elected  under  the 
auspices  of  the  most  democratic  opinions,  will  compose  a  pow- 
erful opposition  in  the  Assembly,  in  the  press,  in  the  Luxem- 
bourg, in  the  clubs,  in  public  opinion,  in  the  national  workshops. 
The  Assembly,  divided,  becomes  instantly  a  stormy  Assembly. 
Speeches  and  votes  not  only  shake  the  interior,  but  shake  the 
capital  and  the  country.  Parties,  checked  and  mute  before  the 
unanimous  or  almost  unanimous  representation  of  to-day,  be- 
come audacious  and  insurgent  before  a  representation  separated 
into  two  camps.  Before  the  end  of  eight  days  of  such  a  spec- 
tacle presented  to  Paris,  opinions  will  take  up  arms  in  Paris 
itself.     The  representation  will  be  threatened. 

"  Where  is  my  strength,  before  a  certain  time,  to  protect  it  ? 


226  HISTORY   OF  THE 

In  the  army  ?  I  have  but  six  thousand  men  in  Paris,  and 
before  I  could  collect  thirty  or  forty  thousand  soldieri,  the  signal 
that  the  Assembly  would  give  to  summon  them  would  be  the 
signal  of  insurrection  against  it,  and  the  signal  for  its  disper- 
sion. 

"  In  the  National  Guard  ?  But  more  than  half  of  the  new 
militia  is  in  the  hands  of  socialist  or  conventional  republicans. 
This  half  of  the  National  Guard  would  arm  for  them  against 
the  Assembly,  and  against  the  old  militia  which  would  desire 
to  protect  the  representation.  It  would  be  civil  war  around  the 
cradle  of  the  constitution. 

"  I  know  well,"  continued  Lamartine,  "  that  I  could  save  the 
Assembly  by  leading  it  out  of  Paris,  falling  back  on  the  army  of 
the  north,  surrounding  it  in  fifteen  days  with  other  corps  drawn 
from  the  Rhine,  and  the  National  Guards  of  the  departments, 
submerging  Paris  with  a  million  of  men,  and  reestablishing  the 
reign  of  representation,  for  a  moment  violated.  But  at  (vhat 
a  cost!  —  atthecostof  waves  of  blood  that  I  should  havf5  lo  spill 
to  recapture  the  capital,  and  at  the  cost  of  proscriptions  \  should 
have  to  exercise  against  the  republicans.  This  cof^t,  indiffer- 
ent, perhaps,  to  an  ambitious,  is  not  so  to  an  hci/.st  man. 
Blood  is  only  innocent  when  it  is  necessary  to  the  law  acting 
in  self-defence.  Here  it  would  be  gratuitous  lijod,  that  is, 
crying  aloud  forever  to  God  and  man  against  my  ambition. 

"  But  this  is  not  all.  After  having  reentered  Paris  in  the 
blood  of  the  republicans,  the  Assembly  will  feel  natural  anger 
and  reaction  against  the  movement  which  expels  it.  Will  this 
reaction  maintain  the  republic  to  strike  republicans  ?  Evidently 
not.  It  will  engulf  even  me,  if  I  refuse  to  serve  its  vengeance, 
or  it  will  decree  me  the  dictatorship  to  deliver  the  republic. 
In  the  first  case,  I  am  a  Cromwell ;  in  the  second,  a  Monk,  a 
tyrant,  or  a  traitor.  This  is  the  alternative  I  prepare  for  myself 
by  mounting  rashly  to  power  —  expelling  thence  my  colleagues 
and  the  republicans  of  the  republic,  at  the  voice  of  a  transient 
popularity. 

"  For  the  Assembly,  danger ;  for  the  country,  civil  war  ;  for 
myself,  a  blasted  name  ;  for  the  future,  the  republic  proclaimed 
and  destroyed  in  three  months  by  the  same  man.  These  were 
my  auguries  !  It  would  have  required  criminality,  incapacity, 
or  folly,  to  accept  them.  The  duty  of  a  true  republican  and  a 
true  patriot  is  to  sacrifice  everything,  that  the  republic  may  not 
be  divided  at  its  outset,  and  that  the  National  Assembly,  ob- 
tained by  so  many  efforts,  but  just  introduced  by  us  into  a 


REVOLUTION    OF    1648.  227 

centre  which  lepulses  it,  may  be  accepted,  assisted  and  saved, 
and  insensibly  grasp  the  authority  and  force  which  belong  to  it. 
This  force  was  as  yet  totally  wanting  to  it.  It  is  necessary  to 
impart  it  by  all  hands,  and  by  the  very  hands  of  those  who 
would  have  wished  to  remove  it  without  me.  These  men  dis- 
pose of  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men  of  the  national 
workshops,  —  to-day  a  docile  and  patient  army,  to-morrow  insur- 
gent at  their  word.  They  dispose  of  the  delegates  of  the  Lux- 
embourg, and  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  workmen  ren- 
dered fanatical  bj'-  their  exhortations.  They  dispose  of  the 
proletary  portion  of  the  new  National  Guard,  which  numbers 
at  least  sixty  thousand  bayonets.  They  dispose  of  clubs  which 
they  can  incite  to  revolt  in  a  single  night.  They  have  at  their 
command,  moreover,  by  means  of  the  prefecture  of  police,  and 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  the  body  of  the  Montagnards,  the  Lyonnese, 
the  Republican  Guard,  the  Guardians  of  Paris,  the  Guides,  and 
all  the  armed  revolutionary  assemblies,  which  receive  their  word 
of  command  only  from  the  most  jealous  republicans.  The  day 
following  that  on  which  I  shall  have  excluded  these  jealous 
republicans  from  their  legitimate  share  of  the  government,  the 
National  Assembly  will  be  besieged,  vanquished,  violated,  and 
constrained  to  become  the  debased  instrument  of  the  victors,  or 
to  dye  with  blood  that  arena  to  which  I  shall  only  have  sum- 
moned it  to  give  it  up  to  executioners." 

This  evidence  struck  the  mind  of  Lamartine  so  forcibly,  that 
he  did  not  understand  why  it  should  not  strike  with  equal 
force  all  the  statesmen  who  gave  more  ambitious  counsels. 
But  those  men,  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  departments,  did 
not  understand  the  true  state  of  Paris,  and  the  respective 
strength  of  the  Assembly  and  the  factions. 

"  The  departments  will  come  up  in  a  body,"  said  they. 

Lamartine  was  not  unaware  of  it.  But  between  the  arrival 
of  the  departments  at  Paris  and  the  safety  of  the  National 
Assembly  there  were  eight  days,  and  these  eight  days  would 
be  a  snare  for  the  Assembly  and  the  destruction  of  the  republic. 

Finally,  there  was  a  part  strongly  recommended  to  Lamar- 
tjne,  by  men  more  interested  in  him  and  his  popularity  than  in 
the  country. 

"  Retire,"  said  they ;  "  declare  that  you  have  need  of  repose ; 
that  you  will  not  be  a  part  of  the  government ;  that  your  work 
is  accomplished ;  and  it  now  remains  for  France,  erect  and 
reunited,  to  do  hers." 

"  This  part  would  be  the  easiest  and  wisest  for  me,"  replied 


228  HISTORY   OF   THE 

Lamartine.  "  I  should  wrap  myself  in  an  easy  popularity, 
which,  by  disengaging  itself  from  the  difficulties,  the  faults,  and 
the  inevitable  catastrophes,  of  these  first  months,  would  reserve 
for  me  regrets  and  mighty  turns  of  fortune.  I  know  it  —  I  know 
the  revolution  of  time.  But  if  I  remove  myself,  the  Assembly, 
which  has  especial  confidence  in  me,  will  instantly  dismiss  all 
my  colleagues  of  February.  It  wiU  give  the  power  to  a  new 
or  old  man,  suspected  by  the  republicans.  This  sudden  reaction 
will  at  once  exasperate  the  republic  ;  Paris  will  rise  in  the  name 
of  the  republicans,  proscribed  by  the  government.  The  same 
misfortunes  will  be  realized.  They  will  not  bear  my  name  :  that 
is  all.  But  in  my  conscience  my  baseness  and  egotism  would 
be  equally  the  cause  of  it.  I  shall  have  saved  and  aggrandized 
myself  by  destroying  the  Assembly,  the  republic,  and  my 
country.  The  contrary  course  must  be  adopted,  —  I  must  be 
destroyed,  and  the  National  Assembly  saved." 

And  he  formed  his  resolution,  without  deceiving  himself  in 
the  least  as  to  the  consequences  of  his  sacrifice. 

He  knew,  as  if  he  had  read  it  in  advance,  that  his  courage 
would  be  construed  into  cowardice ;  his  abnegation  into  thirst 
of  power ;  his  spirit  of  concord  into  complicity ;  his  prudence 
into  blindness.  He  was  not  ignorant  that  a  collective  govern- 
ment, compressed  between  the  national  impatience  of  the 
Assembly  and  the  seditious  resistance  of  the  people,  was  only  a 
temporary  expedient,  soon  exhausted  and  repudiated  by  all. 
parties.  But  this  expedient  was  the  only  one  that  could  deaden 
the  shocks  between  the  representation  and  the  people  of  Paris, 
and  give  time  for  the  reestablishment  of  force  and  means  of 
safety.  The  guerdon  he  gave  for  the  purchase  of  this  time  was 
himself  He  never  repented  it,  notwithstanding  the  universality 
of  the  contrary  judgment  passed  upon  his  conduct.  In  repair- 
ing to  the  Assembly  to  accomplish  his  resolution,  he  encountered 
a  group  of  republican  representatives  on  the  place  de  la  Concorde. 
They  conjured  him  to  yield  to  their  entreaties,  and  suffer  him- 
self to  be  invested  with  the  sole  power.  "  No,"  said  he,  in 
reply  ;  "  I  have  reflected  well.  There  is  a  chasm  which  you  do 
not  perceive  between  the  National  Assembly  and  the  day  on 
which  the  republic  shall  be  armed.  It  requires  a  Curtius  to  fill 
it.  I  shall  be  engulfed,  but  I  shall  save  you !  "  And  he  entered 
the  palace  of  the  National  Assembly, 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  229 


IX. 


The  Assembly,  long  rebellious,  ended  by  adopting,  at  his 
counsel,  from  lassitude  rather  than  conviction,  the  bad  but  im- 
perative plan  of  an  executive  commission,  composed  of  five 
members,  chosen  by  ballot,  to  exercise  the  intennediate  power 
until  the  definitive  establishment  of  the  constitutional  power. 

This  ballot  immediately  showed  Lamartine  that  he  had  lost 
the  confidence  of  a  large  part  of  the  National  Assembly,  by  the 
very  sacrifice  he  had  made  of  his  popularity  and  ambition. 
His  name,  which  had  ten  times  issued  from  the  urns  of  the 
departments,  with  more  than  two  million  suffrages,  only  came 
out  fourth  from  the  urn  of  the  Constituent  Assembly.  They 
punished  him  for  his  devotion ;  they  avenged  themselves  on  him 
for  his  um\'iLlingness  to  serve  the  impatience  and  blindness  of 
his  countr}'.  He  bowed  his  head,  and  received  the  sign  of  his 
commencing  unpopularity. 

The  Assembly  had  chosen  MM.  Arago,  Gamier  Pages, 
Marie,  Lamartine,  and  Ledru  Rollin,.  members  of  the  executive 
commission. 

The  members  of  the  government  met  at  the  house  of  their 
president,  !M.  Arago.  They  appointed  the  ministers.  Their 
selection  was  inspired  by  the  same  spirit  of  transition,  prudence, 
and  fusion,  which  had  animated  the  resolution  of  Lamartine. 
M.  Cremieux  was  minister  of  justice ;  M.  Bastide  had  the 
foreign  affairs ;  M.  Jules  Favre,  whose  oratorical  talent  was 
superior,  while  his  intelligence  was  penetrating  and  compre- 
hensive, was  added  to  this  ministry  as  under-secretary  of  state, 
to  sustain  the  difficult  and  frequent  discussions  on  the  foreign 
interests  of  the  country.  ]\L  Charras,  while  waiting  for  the 
arrival  of  General  Cavaignac,  administered  the  department  of 
war  ;  Admiral  Casy,  the  navy  ;  M.  Eecurt,  the  interior,  with  M. 
Carteret,  a  man  of  brilliant  talent,  for  under-secretarj'  of  state ; 
M.  Trelat,  the  public  works, — a  ministry  which  the  national 
workshops  made  a  political  ministrj'  at  this  time  ;  M.  Flocon, 
agriculture  and  commerce  ;  M.  Bethmont,  worship  ;  M.  Camot, 
public  instruction,  in  which  he  was  seconded  by  j\I.  Reynaud, 
a  man  of  adventurous  but  high-toned  philosophy ;  and  M. 
Duclerc,  the  finances. 

M.  Pagnerre,  who  had  been  distinguished  from  the  24th  of 
February  by  indefatigable  services,  rendered  to  goverrmient  in 
the  modest  but  leading  part  of  secretar}'^-general  of  the  govern- 
ment, preserved  this  employment,  with  a  deUberative  voice. 

VOL.  u.  20 


230  HISTORY   OF   THE 

M.  Man'ast  retained  the  mayoralty  of  Paris  until  the  govern- 
ment had  modified  this  revokitionary  institution.  M.  Caussi- 
diere  kept  the  prefectship  of  police.  There  was  at  once  both 
rashness  and  prudence  in  this  last  choice  ;  no  one  could  do  more 
injury  or  more  service  to  the  National  Assembly  than  Caussi- 
diere.  Lamartine  believed  him  capable  of  both  parts,  but 
thought  that  he  would  sincerely  prefer  the  latter.  There  is 
such  a  difference  between  serving  factions  and  serving  the  rep- 
resentation of  one's  country,  that  such  a  greatness  must,  accord- 
ing to  Lamartine,  tempt  a  character  like  that  of  Caussidiere. 
To  exclude  him,  was  to  throw  him  back  into  conspiracy  —  his 
native  element ;  to  admit  him,  v/as  to  win  him  back  to  order,  by 
satisfying  an  honorable  ambition.     Caussidiere  was  retained. 

X. 

Hardly  had  the  government,  thus  constituted,  time  to  seize 
the  broken  and  tangled  reins  of  government,  when  the  prophe- 
cies of  Lamartine  were  realized,  and  too  clearly  showed  the 
Assembly  how  deceitful  its  security  was,  and  how  easily  the 
revolutionary  soil  of  Paris  might  swallow  up  a  sovereignty  which 
displeased  it. 

The  provisional  government  had  appointed  a  military  and 
national  festival  for  the  day  on  which  the  representatives  should 
be  installed  in  Paris.  They  wished  that  Paris,  erect  and  in 
arms,  should  welcome  France,  embodied  in  her  representatives, 
by  a  fraternal  salute.  They  wished  that  the  sovereign  repre- 
sentatives should  pass  in  review  the  countless  civic  bayonets 
which  were  to  bend  before  them,  and  afterwards  protect  them 
against  factions.  They  wished  that  a  memorable  acclaim 
should  rise  from  a  million  voices,  to  recognize  the  sovereignty 
of  France  in  her  representatives.  The  ill-contrived  arrange- 
ments of  the  executors  of  the  preparations  for  this  ceremony  in 
the  Champ-de-Mars  had  postponed  it  to  the  14th  of  May.  The 
badly-graded  soil  of  the  field  of  federation  would  have  subjected 
to  danger  the  immense  mass  of  the  population  whom  this  festi- 
val was  certain  to  bring  together. 

On  the  12th  of  May,  M.  Recurt,  the  minister  of  the  interior, 
announced  again  that  the  festival  would  be  necessarily  post- 
poned to  the  21st  of  May.  Deputations  from  the  National 
Guards  of  the  departments,  who  had  already  reached  Paris, 
were  irritated,  murmured,  carried  their  complaints  into  public 
places,  and  produced  a  slight  agitation  on  the  surface  of  Paris. 


REVOLUTION   OF    1S48.  231 

The  le.iders  of  the  party  of  agitation  keenly  eyed  these  symp- 
toms, and  saw  in  them  some  auxiHarj'  elements  of  perturbation. 
The  club-managers  —  the  radical  partisans  of  war  —  until  then 
deceived  in  their  plans  of  a  general  conflagration  of  Europe, 
sought  for  a  watchword  to  raise  the  people.  They  found  it  in 
the  name  of  Poland. 

The  people,  for  fifteen  years,  had  been  accustomed  to  respond 
to  this  name.  This  word  conveyed  to  the  people  the  idea  of 
the  oppression  of  a  human  race,  and  vengeance  on  tjTanny. 
Important  men  in  the  National  Assembly,  such  as  MM.  Vavin, 
Volowski,  and  ]\Iontalembert,  were  patrons  of  this  cause.  These 
internal  patrons  encouraged  demands  from  without.  This 
cause,  in  so  far  as  it  was  just  and  generous,  counted  on  generous 
minds  in  the  Assembly.  The  factions  seized  upon  these  ten- 
dencies of  the  people,  to  recommend  a  manifestation  in  favor 
of  Poland.  They  appointed  a  rendezvous  for  the  15th  of  May, 
for  all  the  clubs  and  all  the  friends  of  Poland,  on  the  place  de  la 
Bastille.  Thence,  after  having  signed  a  petition  to  the  Assem- 
bly demanding  war  on  Eussia,  —  that  is  to  say,  the  conflagra- 
tion of  the  continent,  and  the  coalition  of  all  the  powers  against 
the  Eepublic,  —  they  would  take  up  their  line  of  march  along 
the  boulerards,  rally  as  they  passed  the  still  tumuhuous  masses 
of  Paris,  and  would  bring  the  petition  of  the  people  to  the  bar 
of  the  Assembly. 

The  Poles  themselves,  though  they  had  obtained  immense 
indemnifications  already,  by  the  influence  of  the  republic,  in  the 
duchy  of  Posen,  and  in  Gallicia,  were  no  strangers  to  this 
movement.  Lamartine  was  informed,  by  letters  from  his  con- 
fidential agents  in  Poland,  that  emissaries  from  the  Polish  clubs 
of  Cracow  had  started  with  the  mission  of  creating  a  pressure 
on  the  National  Assembly  of  Paris,  to  compel  it  to  "declare  war 
in  their  favor.  After  having  formed  this  tumultuous  assemblage, 
the  club-managers  and  demagogues  proposed  to  demand  defiling 
through  the  Assembly,  in  imitation  of  the  insurgent  processions 
in  the  Convention  in  the  days  of  crime. 

The  government  was  resolved  to  oppose  this.  A  petition 
brought  by  a  hundred  thousand  men  is  an  oppression,  not  a 
vote.  Political  parties,  the  ultra  or  moderate  republicans,  saw 
with  equal  horror  this  project  of  a  disguised  emeute.  This  plot 
had  no  understanding  with  the  National  or  Mobile  Guard.  It 
was  an  attempt  of  desperate  parties,  a  saturnalia  of  the  basest 
demagogism;  —  it  afflicted  more  than  it  alarmed  the  gov- 
ernment. 


232  HISTORY    OF    THE    REVOLUTION   OF    1848. 

Receiving  information,  though  not  exact  information,  on  the 
preceding  evening,  from  the  minister  of  the  interior,  M.  Re- 
curt,  the  government  sent  for  the  prefect  of  police.  Caussidiere 
sent  word,  in  reply,  that  he  was  sick,  and  that  he  knew  nothing 
of  a  nature  to  give  rise  to  serious  fears  for  the  next  day.  His 
absence,  his  silence,  and  his  inactivity  before  and  during  the 
movement  of  the  15th  of  May,  awakened  suspicions  of  con- 
nivance or  toleration,  which  nothing  subsequent  has  justified  or 
verified.  Caussidiere  was  in  fact  kept  at  home  by  the  results  of 
in  accidental  injury  from  a  horse.  He  was,  moreover,  engaged 
in  a  struggle  of  prerogative  and  rivalry  with  the  mayoralty  of  Paris 
and  the  minister  of  the  interior.  Louis  Blanc,  Albert,  and  the 
whole  socialist  party,  excluded  from  the  government  by  Lamar- 
tine  and  his  colleagues,  would  seek  to  exasperate  Caussidiere 
against  an  Assembly  which  separated  from  them.  The  Mon- 
tagnards,  to  the  number  of  two  or  three  thousand  men,  who  occu- 
pied the  prefecture  of  police,  and  had  strengthened  themselves 
there,  held  by  their  opinions  and  relations  to  the  most  turbulent 
clubs.  These  were  armed  demagogues,  shuddering  at  the 
idea  of  becoming  subordinate  to  the  regular  representation  of  the 
country. 

The  centre  in  which  Caussidiere  lived,  therefore,  was  the 
centre  of  opposition,  rendered  acrimonious  by  dethroned  so- 
cialists, of  a  secret  faction,  affiliated  to  demagogues.  Was 
Caussidiere  himself  an  instigator  and  accomplice  ?  I  think  not. 
Was  he  as  vigilant  and  active  as  he  would  have  been  in  another 
frame  of  mind  ?  I  dare  not  affirm  that,  either.  He  doubtless 
believed  only  in  a  slight  disturbance,  which  might  alarm  the 
Assembly,  and  impress  its  importance  on  the  new  comers  from 
the  departments.  He  was  astonished,  the  next  morning,  at  the 
gravity  of  the  result.  He  took  too  little  interest  in  the  aflfair. 
He  shut  up  his  forces  in  the  prefecture  of  police  to  wait;  not  as 
an  accomplice  or  a  criminal,  but  without  being  sufficiently  indig- 
nant, perhaps,  at  the  humiliation  of  the  national  representation. 

The  government  employed  a  part  of  the  night  in  giving  the 
most  circumstantial  orders  to  General  Courtais,  the  comman- 
dant of  the  National  Guard,  and  Generals  Tampour  and  Fou- 
cher;  the  first  commanding  the  Guard  Mobile,  the  second,  the 
troops  of  Paris. 


BOOK  XV. 


I. 

At  daybreak,  on  the  15th  of  May,  the  generals  and  the  min- 
ister of  the  interior  were  summoned  to  the  Luxembourg,  the 
seat  of  government,  to  render  an  account  of  the  dispositions 
they  had  made,  and  to  concert  new  ones.  Nothing  was  neglected 
which  might  keep  the  mob  away  from  the  Assembly,  and  even 
shield  the  representation  by  fire.  General  Courtais  received 
the  command  in  chief.  It  was  agreed  that  twelve  thousand 
men  of  the  National  Guard  should  be  summoned  around  the 
Palais  Bourbon,  and  that  the  battalions  of  the  Guard  Mobile 
should  be  stationed  as  a  reserve,  under  the  trees  of  the  Champs- 
Elysees.  Mobile  Guards  and  artillery  were  also  posted  in  the 
court-yards. 

The  sitting  of  the  Assembly  was  opened  at  noon.  Ledru 
Rollin  and  Lamartine  were  present,  as  well  as  the  ministers, 
MM.  Arago,  Marie,  Gamier  Pages,  and  Pagnerre,  vv^ere  in  per- 
manence at  the  Luxembourg,  to  consult  upon  the  contingencies 
of  the  day,  in  case  their  colleagues  should  be  encircled  in 
the  Palais  Bourbon.  A  confused  agitation  reigned  within ;  a 
prodigious  murmuring  rose  from  without.  The  petition  in 
favor  of  Poland  was  read.  Orators  sustained  it.  Lamartine 
ascended  the  steps  of  the  tribune  to  reply  to  them.  He  re- 
ceived information  that  an  immense  column  of  the  people,  pre- 
ceded by  the  clubs,  and  gathering  upon  its  way  the  floating 
scum  of  the  population  of  a  great  capital,  was  advancing  upon 
the  Assembly,  and  threatened  to  force  the  bridge.  Lamartine, 
that  he  might  not  alarm  the  Assembly,  feigned  to  be  unwilling 
to  reply  until  other  orators  had  spoken.  He  bent  to  the  ear 
of  the  president,  M.  Buchez,  and  warned  him  to  take  the  steps 
which  his  authority  over  the  troops  within  the  compass  of  the 
representatives'  palace,  gave  him. 

General  Courtais,  evidently  surprised  at  the  mass  and  rapid- 
ity of  the   demonstration,    deficient   in  battalions   directly  on 

VOL.  u  20* 


234  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  spot,  fearing  a  shock  which  he  thought  he  might  still 
avoid,  by  opening  the  passage  of  the  bridge,  and  letting  the 
column  of  petitioners  defile  before  the  peristyle  and  along  the 
quay,  wavered  in  his  decision,  and  sought  advice  corresponding 
to  his  ideas.  During  this  indecision  on  the  part  of  the  defence, 
the  column,  removing  half  a  battalion  of  National  Guards  on 
the  place  de  la  Concorde,  and  compelling  the  handful  of  Mobile 
Guards,  who  were  insufficient  to  defend  the  bridge,  to  fall 
back,  debouched,  like  an  overflowing  torrent,  on  the  quay,  in 
front  of  the  peristyle,  and  was  engulfed  by  the  rue  de  Bour- 
gogne,  amidst  cries  of  "  Long  live  Poland  !  " 

The  questors,  stripped  of  power  by  the  absence  of  the  Na- 
tional Guards  from  the  interior,  came  to  engage  Lamartine  and 
Ledru  RoUin  to  present  themselves  to  the  people,  and  address 
them  from  the  top  of  the  palace  stairs.  General  Courtais  was 
already  there,  seeking  vainly,  by  voice  and  gesture,  to  quell  the 
tumult. 

Thousands  of  men,  in  various  costumes,  the  greater  part  in 
rags,  with  excited  faces,  and  threatening  gestures,  their  mouths 
full  of  foam  and  outcry,  bore  with  the  whole  force  of  a  multi- 
tude against  the  railings,  and  struggled  to  shake  or  scale 
them,  that  they  might  violate  the  enclosure.  Ledru  EoUin, 
received  with  some  applause,  could  not  make  himself  heard. 
At  sight  of  Lamartine,  whom  the  mob  knew  to  l^e  the  minister 
of  foreign  affairs,  and  energetically  opposed  to  the  war,  an  im- 
mense clamor  rose.  Some  voices  shouted,  "  Death  to  Lamar- 
tine ! " 

The  crowd  protested  with  indignation  against  these  cries. 
They  tore  from  the  railing  the  two  wretches  who  had  uttered 
them,  trampled  them  under  foot,  and  cried  ;  "  No  !  Long  live 
Lamartine ! "  At  the  moment  when  Lamartine  had  a  chair 
brought,  that  he  might  address  the  people,  fifteen  or  twenty 
men,  who  had  mounted  on  the  points  of  the  railing,  crossed 
them,  and  fell  at  his  feet  in  the  space  which  separates  the  fence 
from  the  steps  of  the  peristyle.  The  gate  of  the  fence  was 
opened  or  forced,  and  the  first  billow  of  the  crowd  poured 
through  this  aperture.  "  It  is  all  over,"  said  Lamartine.  "  No ! 
reason  can  do  no  more.  There  is  nothing  left  but  defence. 
Well  then,  to  arms,  and  let  us  defend  ourselves  I  " 

As  he  uttered  these  words,  he  fell  back,  followed  by  a  few 
deputies  and  soldiers,  to  the  gate  of  the  second  court,  separated 
by  another  railing  from  the  square  of  the  peristyle.  This 
second  court  was  occupied  by  half  a  battalion  of  Mobile  Guards. 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  235 

The  soldiers  seemed  resolved  to  do  their  duty,  when  an  order, 
attributed  to  General  Courtais,  made  them  sheathe  their  bayo- 
nets. Lamartine,  perceiving  this  motion  of  disarming  among 
the  soldiers  in  the  midst  of  the  tumult,  raised  his  arms  to 
heaven,  and  exclaimed  that  all  was  lost. 

He  reentered  the  interior  with  the  group  of  questors  and 
deputies,  and  awaited  the  result  in  consternation.  Still  he  flat- 
tered himself  that  the  National  Guards  who  were  in  the  other 
courts,  rallied  by  some  energetic  command,  would  at  least  pre- 
vent the  violation  of  the  very  hall  of  sessions,  and  that  the 
invasion  he  had  witnessed  on  the  side  of  the  quay  would  be 
confined  to  a  tumultuous  defiling  in  the  corridors  and  gardens 
of  the  palace.  After  having  informed  the  president  of  what 
was  going  on,  he  went  out,  alone  and  desperate,  to  face  the 
seditious  men  who  were  trying  to  cross  the  last  threshold. 

After  having  gone  a  few  steps  in  the  hall  of  columns,  he 
found  himself  in  front  of  a  group  of  club-leaders,  who  were 
advancing  five  or  six  deep,  with  locked  arms,  A  member  of 
the  provisional  government,  Albert,  the  friend  of  Louis  Blanc, 
was  of  the  number.  He  was  the  only  one  whom  Lamartine 
knew  by  sight. 

Behind  this  first  rank  marched  other  citizens,  their  faces  on 
fire,  their  gestures  wild. 

Lamartine,  resolved  to  do  his  duty,  without  considering  his 
impotence  and  isolation,  advanced  a  few  steps  to  meet  this 
head  of  the  column,  and  extending  his  crossed  amis,  as  if  to 
oppose  a  barrier,  said  to  them :  — 

"  Citizens,  you  shall  not  pass,  or  you  shall  only  pass  over 
my  body."  —  "  And  by  what  right  would  you  prevent  our  pass- 
ing? "  asked  the  first  who  accosted  him.  —  "  By  the  right,"  re- 
plied Lamartine,  "  of  a  member  of  the  government,  charged 
with  defending,  at  every  cost,  the  inviolability  of  the  National 
Assembly," —  "  What  do  we  care  for  the  National  Assembly  ? " 
replied  they.  "  We  are  the  people.  We  wish  personally  to 
present  our  petitions  and  our  wills  to  our  servants.  Have  you 
already  forgotten  that  the  people  communicated  freely,  directly 
and  constantly,  with  the  government  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  ?  " 

"  Citizens,"  resumed  Lamartine,  "  we  were  then  in  a  revo- 
lution ;  we  are  now  under  a  government.  The  National  As- 
sembly is  as  far  above  us  as  the  nation  is  above  you.  It  cannot 
receive  petitions  from  the  hands  of  a  banded  faction  of  the  peo- 
ple, without  losing  its  liberty  and  majesty.  I  tell  you  again 
you  shall  not  pass  except  over  my  body." 


236  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Then  shcTuts  rose  from  the  midst  of  the  men  who  formed 
the  second  rank  of  the  group.  Ironical  and  contemptuous 
apostrophes  were  addressed  to  Lamartine.  But  no  outrage,  no 
violence,  saddened  this  dialogue  between  the  interlocutors  and 
himself.  The  altercation  degenerated  into  a  discussion  on  the 
respective  rights  of  the  people  and  the  Assembly ;  some  citi- 
zens, not  belonging  to  the  representative  body,  among  whom 
were  young  Lagrange  of  Macon,  Thomasson,  and  Ernest  Gre- 
goire,  and  some  courageous  and  indignant  representatives.  M. 
de  Mornay,  M.  de  Montrol  and  others,  had  hastened  to  the 
spot  on  the  rumor  of  the  quarrel,  and  ranged  themselves  be- 
hind Lamartine.  They  represented  matters  in  the  same  light 
as  he  did  to  the  groups  of  invaders.  These  groups,  still  few 
in  numbers,  hesitated,  wavered,  and  finally  ended  by  falling 
back  to  the  salle  des  Pas  Perdus. 

Lamartine  reentered  the  Assembly  and  took  his  seat,  that 
he  might  participate  in  the  resolutions  and  acts  which  the  Na- 
tional Assembly  would  adopt  in  this  extremity.  He  thought 
the  gates  had  been  closed  after  the  passage  of  this  first  wave 
of  insurgents,  and  that  the  petitions  brought  by  representatives 
would  call  him  to  the  tribune. 

But  he  had  hardly  resumed  his  place,  filled  with  a  horror 
and  grief  which  he  could  hardly  banish  from  his  features, 
when  the  doors  of  the  public  tribunes,  opened  or  burst  noisily 
through  the  whole  extent  of  the  hall,  gave  entrance  to  an  inva- 
sion of  men  in  waistcoats  and  blue  working-shirts,  all  in 
rags,  who  rushed  as  to  the  assault  of  the  galleries,  brutally 
hurling  out,  with  hands  and  feet,  peaceable  spectators  and 
women,  bestriding  the  balconies,  and  hanging  by  their  arms 
from  the  balconies,  that  they  might  slide  down  over  the  heads 
of  the  representatives, —  in  a  moment  filling  the  entire  hall  with 
crowds,  cries,  flags,  dust,  and  confusion  ;  a  true  and  atrocious 
image  of  an  irruption  of  barbarians  into  a  civilized  society. 
Lamartine  recognized  in  this  subterranean  mob  the  same 
chiefs,  the  same  costumes,  the  same  faces,  the  same  shouts, 
with  which  he  had  been  overwhelmed  for  sixty  hours  at  the 
Hotel  de  Ville,  during  the  days  of  the  red  flag.  The  Assem- 
bly might  imagine  itself  carried  back  to  the  gloomy  days  of 
September,  1793. 

The  representatives  were  unanimously  sublime  in  firmness  ; 
firm  in  attitude  and  indignation.  Not  a  cry  of  fright  was 
uttered  by  one  mouth.  Not  a  brow  grew  pale.  Not  a  look 
lowered  before  the  audacity  and  atrocity  of  the  faces  and  acts 


Of  THE 

UNivcr::.TY  (,?  ill!.,ois 


H 


u 
O 

C/3 


O 


s 

< 


O 

H 
<! 

U 

H 

b 
O 


H 
O 
O 


REVOLTJTION    OF    1848.  237 

which  sullied  the  hall.  These  nine  hundred  intrepid  citizens 
had  understandingly  accepted  from  their  departments  the  mis- 
sion of  supreme  danger  they  would  incur  in  hastening  to  enact 
republican  law  for  a  radicalism  which  would  attempt  to  impose 
on  them  sedition  and  terror.  They  were  resolved  to  die  'vorthy 
of  their  departments. 

The  people  were  themselves  intimidated  by  their  attitude,  and 
seemed  ashamed  of  their  own  excesses.  Still  some  hideous 
struggles  between  these  men,  intoxicated  with  the  radical  ad- 
dresses which  had  been  aimed  at  them,  took  place  within  the  en- 
closure. Ruffians  brandishing  a  flag,  armed  with  an  iron  lance, 
wished  to  go  and  plant  it  on  the  tribune.  Others  restrained 
them.  They  were  overthrown  and  raised  themselves  from  the 
dust,  under  the  eyes  of  the  representatives.  Others  tried  to 
scale  the  steps  of  the  tribune,  which  the  devoted  ushers  and 
deputies  covered  with  their  bodies.  Others  rushed  by  the 
outer  staircases  to  the  bureau  and  arm-chair  of  the  president, 
to  force  orders  or  motions  on  him.  Partial,  terrible,  and  ill- 
boding  dialogues  took  place  between  the  crowd  and  some 
heroic  deputies,  who  braved  it  by  rising  from  their  benches, 
uncovering  their  breasts,  and  making  gestures  of  defiance  to 
the  seditious.  Tragic  interrogations  passed  on  all  sides,  be- 
j  tween  the  leading  demagogues,  who  pressed  to  the  foot  of  the 

tribune,    and   the   representatives  of   all   sides.      There   was 
I  neither  right  nor  left  in  the  Assembly.     No  secret  intelligence 

I  had  been  as  yet  established  between  the  demagogues  outside 

and  the  representatives.     There  was  no  other  party  but  that 
I  of  indignation  ;  Ledru  Rollin,  Barbes,  and  Louis  Blanc,  ex- 

j  pressing  by  their  looks  and  gestures  as  much  affliction  and 

j  disgust  at  these  saturnalia  of  the  people,  as  the  members  of 

other  parties  in   the   Assembly.     These   deputies  of  popular 
I  renown  were  observed  to  be  accosted  by  the  people,  and  to  be 

i  seeking  to  appease  them  and  dissuade  them  from  their  evil 

j  designs.     Their  interference  was  appealed  to  as  if  to  be  inter- 

posed between  the  people  and  the  Assembly.  These  reprvi- 
sentatives,  thus  solicited  by  their  colleagues,  uttered  a  few 
words  in  a  spirit  of  repression ;  but  the  tumult  drowned  all 
voices  and  confounded  all  parts.  It  was  a  conflict  of  gestures 
and  shouts,  a  battle  of  unarmed  men,  a  whirl  of  confused  ele- 
■  ments,  which  carried  away  everything,  even  those  who  had 

!  created  it.     IMore  than  one  hour  thus  rolled  away  before  the 

silence  of  lassitude  would  allow  the  mixed  mob  and  representa- 
tives the  semblance,  not  of  a  deliberation,  but  a  dialogue  or 


238  HISTORY   OF   THE 

sort  of  protestation.     The  excess  of  anarchy  had  paralyzed  the 
action  of  anarchy  itself. 

II. 

While  these  scenes  were  passing  in  the  hall,  other  and  still 
more  scandalous  and  gloomy  scenes  were  enacted  around  the 
desk  and  arm-chair  of  the  president.  Insurgents  had  already 
obtained  possession,  by  climbing  with  hands  and  feet  upon  the 
tribune.  There  some  brandished  drawn  swords,  others  the 
flags  of  clubs  ;  two  men  in  uniform,  one  an  officer  of  the  Na- 
tional Guard,  the  other  a  fireman,  made  themselves  conspicu- 
ous by  the  insolence  and  recklessness  of  their  vociferations. 
Bands  of  demagogues,  with  hairy  and  bloated  faces,  disputed 
for  the  tribune,  attempted  to  utter  a  few  words  drowned  by  ap- 
plause or  clamor,  and  by  turns  overthrew  each  other.  Others, 
constantly  assaulting  the  bureau  and  the  arm-chair,  uttered 
horrible  menaces  against  the  president.  They  forbade,  under 
pain  of  the  massacre  of  the  Assembly,  to  summon  the  National 
Guard  to  the  assistance  of  the  representatives. 

The  president,  dignified,  calm,  and  fearless,  on  his  account, 
was  placed  under  an  anxiety  and  mental  restraint  which  ex- 
plains his  apparent  inaction.  If  he  did  not  summon  the  public 
force,  he  failed  to  discharge  his  responsibility  to  the  Assembly; 
if  he  summoned  it,  he  would  perhaps  compromise  the  lives  of 
nine  hundred  representatives,  who  were  at  the  mercy  of  an 
innumerable  herd.  Besides,  did  the  public  force  exist  any- 
where ?  It  was  said  that  the  column  of  the  people  which 
entered  the  enclosure  was  but  the  head  of  a  column  of  a  hun- 
dred thousand  men,  stretching  from  the  Pont  de  la  Concorde 
to  the  Bastille.  General  Tampour,  the  commandant  of  the 
Guard  Mobile,  was  detained  in  a  public  tribune,  a  motionless 
spectator  of  this  violence,  separated  from  troops  to  whom  he 
could  not  give  orders.  The  commanding-general,  Courtais, 
was  wandering  about  the  enclosure,  surrounded  by  billows  of 
the  people,  who  forbade  his  summoning  his  battalions.  The 
government  was  either  imprisoned  with  Lamartine  and  Ledru 
Rollin,  or  removed  from  the  scene  of  action,  at  the  Luxem- 
bourg, with  Arago,  Gamier  Pages,  and  Marie.  There  re- 
mained nothing  but  the  individual  action  of  each  good  citizen. 
Each  one  employed  it  according  to  his  inspiration  and  conjec- 
tures as  to  the  nature  and  mass  of  the  exterior  movement,  with 
whose  direction  no  one  was  acquainted.  The  president  signed, 
'jy  turns  orders  not  to  have  the  rappel  beaten,  and  secret  orders 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  239 

to  march  upon  the  Assembly.  He  gave  the  first  to  the  sedi- 
tious, to  appease  them  ;  the  second,  to  the  faithful,  to  be  trans- 
mitted by  them  to  the  colonels  of  the  legions.  These  colonels, 
thus  receiving  contrary  orders,  took  counsel  of  chance  only. 
Lamartine  sent  successively,  by  friends  he  had  in  the  crowd, 
the  order  to  beat  the  rappel  and  to  muster  the  legions.  M.  de 
Chamboraud,  a  forward  and  bold  man,  a  friend  of  Lamartine, 
succeeded,  through  a  thousand  dangers,  on  his  owni  responsi- 
bility, and  even  by  giving  himself  up  as  a  hostage,  in.  causing 
the  order  to  beat  the  rappel  to  be  executed  by  a  legion.  But 
these  orders  were  only  counsels  carried  by  representatives,  or 
by  apparent  accomplices  of  the  invasion,  which  might  be  evaded 
or  disobeyed.  The  captive  Assembly  was  surrendered  to  the 
chances  of  fortune.  A  sinde  shot  or  dasfSfer-stroke  might 
change  the  popular  saturnalia  into  a  massacre  of  the  repre- 
sentatives. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  mass  of  the  people,  more  misled  than 
guilty,  appeared  to  feel  an  instinctive  shame  at  their  excesses, 
and  to  blush  at  their  own  disorder.  Lamartine  mounted  upon 
the  terrace  of  the  little  garden  which  commands  the  quays  and 
the  rue  de  Bourgogne,  to  judge  of  the  number  and  disposition 
of  the  people  without,  and  was  received  with  applause  and 
cries  of  Vive  Lamartine !  Reentering  the  halls  which  face 
the  enclosure,  and  plunged  in  the  groups  which  were  rolling 
there  like  waves,  he  was  the  object  of  no  outrage.  "  Speak 
to  us  !  counsel  us  !  assist  us  !  "  cried  to  him  these  men,  uncer- 
tain of  their  own  mind.  "  Fear  nothing;  we  will  cover  you 
with  our  arms,  to  avert  the  daggers  from  your  breast !  " 

He  replied  to  them  with  calmness  and  severity.  He  pointed 
out  to  them,  by  his  gestures,  the  scandal  of  the  violated  pre- 
cincts, and  the  certain  vengeance  of  the  departments,  outraged 
in  their  representatives,  and  the  inevitable  civil  war,  if  they 
did  not  voluntarily  restrain  themselves,  by  retiring  and  sign- 
ing an  act  of  repentance  and  reparation  to  the  Assembly. 
These  words  found  everywhere  echoes.  The  people  appeared 
to  demand  nothing  but  to  retire  and  repair  their  fault.  A 
small  number  only  of  demagogues  and  furious  agents  of  the 
clubs  perpetuated  the  tumults,  and  carried  Louis  Blanc  in  tri- 
umph from  hall  to  hall,  accompanied  by  Barbes  and  Albert. 

Louis  Blanc,  whatever  may  have  been  since  said,  appeared 
more  humbled  than  satisfied  by  these  triumphs,  sufTered  rather 
than  obtained,  over  public  decency.  Lamartine,  who  was  con- 
stantly elbowed  in  this  vortex  of  sedition  by  the  ovations  of 


240  HISTORY    OF    THE 

his  old  colleague  and  adversary,  heard  from  the  bosom  of  the 
crowd  many  of  the  addresses  of  Louis  Blanc.  These,  speeches 
breathed  joy  at  seeing  the  numbers  and  enthusiasm  of  the  so- 
cialists impose  respect  upon  their  enemies,  and  being  marked 
by  the  irresistible  power  of  public  opinion.  But  while  con- 
gratulating them,  he  conjured  them  to  retire,  to  become  moder- 
ate, and  to  restore  liberty  to  the  general  representatives  of  the 
people.  General  Courtais,  passing  from  group  to  group,  did 
not  cease  to  address  the  same  adjurations. 

IV. 

But  while  Lamartine  harangued,  from  hall  to  hall,  the 
crowd,  more  and  more  influenced  by  his  voice,  the  chiefs  of 
the  clubs  were  disputing  for  the  tribune,  and  mounting  it,  read 
petitions  and  discourses ;  Blanqui,  applauded  by  his  sectaries, 
called  to  it,  by  a  fatal  rivalry  of  popularity,  Barbes,  his  ene- 
my, and  up  to  that  time  more  an  adversary  than  an  accomplice 
of  the  seditious.  At  last,  a  conspirator  more  enterprising, 
called  Huber,  a  face  proved  in  all  the  extreme  agitations  of  the 
people  since  February,  proclaimed  the  dissolution  of  the  na- 
tional body  of  representatives,  and  a  revolutionary  govern- 
ment. 

Applauded  by  the  hordes  who  were  pressing  round  the  tri- 
bune, this  motion  was  proclaimed  from  mouth  to  mouth,  like  a 
decree  of  the  people.  The  members  of  the  Assembly  dispersed 
to  seek  justice  and  vengeance  in  the  bosom  of  the  National 
Guard,  and  of  the  true  Paris.  The  factions,  preceded  by 
Barbes  and  their  accomplices,  marched  in  column  upon  the 
Hotel  de  Ville,  took  possession  of  it  without  resistance,  and  sur- 
rounded themselves  with  eight  thousand  armed  men,  some  ac- 
complices, others  spectators  seduced  by  the  triumph  of  factions. 

At  this  moment  Ledru  RoUin,  retained  by  the  insurgents  in 
a  porter's  lodge  of  the  palace,  and  solicited  by  them  to  follow 
them  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  to  accept  there  the  place  which 
they  had  decreed  him  in  this  government,  resisted  them  obsti- 
nately, and  declared  that  he  would  never  allow  himself,  for 
any  consideration,  to  set  up  a  power  surprised  by  a  sedition 
against  the  national  representatives. 

At  the  same  moment,  Lamartine,  pressed  by  a  tumultuous 
crowd  into  the  hall  of  conferences,  harangued  the  people,  who 
began  to  retire  at  his  summons.  The  movement  of  retreat 
which  was  made  after  the  proclamation  of  the  dissolution  of 


vt    THE 

UNivc.^s.  rv  or  iLlimOIS 


iN|||'i«,i;wi,, 


'^'i.^.Pi/if    ■  ^^'    ' 


LAMARTINE  AND.  GENERAL  COURTOIS. 

Vol.  2.    p.  241. 


REVOLUTION    OF    1S4S.  241 

the  Assembly  interrupted  his  discourse.  A  group  of  seven  or 
eight  good  citizens,  mingled  among  the  people,  to  inspire  and 
restrain  them,  surrounded  Lamartine,  and  conducted  him 
across  the  garden  into  the  palace  of  the  presidency,  which 
was  in  process  of  construction.  They  made  him  ascend  to 
the  office  of  the  administration  of  building.  They  closed  the 
doors,  stationed  some  brave  workmen  as  sentinels  at  the  foot 
of  the  staircase,  to  turn  aside  the  multitude,  if  they  should 
chance  to  present  themselves.  They  resolved  to  await,  in 
the  very  precincts  of  the  National  Assembly,  the  movement 
which  was  about  to  consummate  or  redress  the  outrage  of  the 
day. 

"  If  in  three  hours,"  said  Lamartine  to  his  unknown  friends, 
"  we  do  not  hear  the  drum  beat  to  arms  on  the  other  side  of 
the  river,  I  shall  sleep  at  Vincennes,  or  I  shall  be  shot ! " 

"  This  will  not  last  so  long,"  cried  the  young  men,  with  in- 
dignation ;  "  it  is  not  possible  that  France  will  endure  for  three 
hours  such  a  parody  of  a  government." 

Lamartine,  exhausted  in  voice,  and  streaming  with  perspira- 
tion, sat  down  at  a  little  table,  on  which  the  workmen  had  for- 
gotten a  bottle  of  wine ;  he  drank  to  the  approaching  deliverance 
of  the  republic. 

General  Courtais,  informed  of  the  asylum  to  which  Lamar- 
tine had  retired,  came  to  knock  at  the  door  of  the  cabinet. 
He  allowed  him  to  enter.  Nothing  in  his  features  or  his 
language  betrayed  the  open  joy,  or  even  the  secret  satisfaction, 
of  an  accomplice.  On  the  contrary,  everj'-thing  about  him 
displayed  the  disorder  and  consternation  of  a  man  wavering 
between  two  dangers  :  that  of  failing  in  his  duty  to  the  repre- 
sentatives, and  that  of  shedding  the  first  blood  after  a  revolu- 
tion thus  far  without  stain.  Courtais  asked  advice  of  La- 
martine before  these  eight  witnesses.  Lamartine  counselled 
him  to  escape  by  the  gardens,  and  to  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  first  legion  which  he  could  collect,  and  to  march  on  the 
palace  to  reestablish  the  Assembly.  He  thanked  Lamartine, 
drank  a  glass  of  wine  while  standing,  and  rushed  out  to  do 
his  duty. 

An  instant  after,  he  returned.  His  uniform  of  general  had 
caused  him  to  be  surrounded  by  the  people,  who  inundated  the 
gardens  and  courts,  and  closed  all  the  outlets.  Lamartine 
counselled  him  to  make  a  last  effort;  the  general  again  de- 
scended, pressed  through  the  rioters,  and  desired  to  go  out  by 
the  rue  de  Bourgogne.     But  while  he  was  seeking  a  mode  of 

VOL.   II.  21 


242 


HISTORY   OF  THE 


rejoining  and  CDmmanding  his  legions,  th  5  legions,  roused,  of 
their  own  accord,  by  the  public  rumor  and  the  emissaries  of 
Lamartine  and  his  colleagues  at  the  Luxembourg,  assembled, 
marched,  and  went  to  arrest  soon  their  own  general. 


V. 

A  vast  murmuring  of  people  rose  from  below  to  the  asylum 
where  Lamartine  was  counting  the  minutes  with  his  friends. 
A  sad  and  complete  silence  reigned  over  the  rest  of  Paris. 
With  ears  glued  to  the  windows,  they  did  not  know  what 
would  proceed  from  this  silence.  The  conspirators  had,  it  was 
said,  ten  thousand  armed  accomplices,  and  some  cannon,  at  the 
Hotel  de  Ville.  The  office  of  the  minister  of  the  interior  had 
been  taken ;  that  of  the  minister  of  war  abandoned.  The 
National  Guard  was  without  commandant-general.  They 
were  yet  floating  between  the  most  strange  events.  Every- 
thing was  possible  at  such  a  moment. 

Suddenly  a  distant  march  at  a  charging  step,  imperceptible, 
beaten  from  different  sides,  on  both  banks  of  the  Seine, 
struck  upon  the  ear.  At  this  sound,  a  battalion  of  the  Guard 
Mobile,  shut  up  in  the  gardens  of  the  presidency  which  com- 
mand the  quay,  ran  to  arms,  and  formed  in  order  of  battle  un- 
der the  walls  of  the  palace.  Lamartine  went  out  with  his 
friends  from  his  retreat,  descended  the  staircase,  traversed  the 
building  in  course  of  construction,  passed  through  a  window 
upon  a  plank  thrown  like  a  bridge  from  the  palace  to  the  gar- 
den, and  rushed  into  the  ranks  of  the  Guard  Mobile,  who 
received  him  with  cries  of  "  Vive  Lamartine  !  vive  la  representa- 
tion nationale !  "  and  returned  with  them  and  the  National 
Guards,  by  the  great  gate  of  the  quay,  into  the  palace.  The 
insurgents,  who  filled  the  enclosure  of  the  halls,  the  courts,  and 
the  gardens,  dispersed  throughout  all  the  outlets  before  the 
bayonets.  The  representatives,  led  back  by  detachments  of 
the  legions,  resumed  their  places.  Lamartine,  half  stifled  by 
the  crowds  in  the  halls  and  corridors,  was  carried  up  to  the 
first  steps  of  the  tribune.  He  mounted  it  ni  the  midst  of  cries 
of  "  Vive  AssembUe  Nationale  !  vive  Lcmartine  1  "  He  waited 
there  a  long  time  in  silence,  until  the  tumult  of  arms  should 
subside,  and  until  a  certain  number  of  representatives  had 
taken  their  place. 

"Citizens!"  cried  he  then,  "the  first  duty  of  the  National 
Assembly,  returning  with  fre<'dom  within  these  walls  under 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843.  243 

the  shadow  of  the  bayonets,  is  to  vote  the  giutitude  of  the 
country  to  the  National  Guards  of  Paris,  to  the  Guard  Mo- 
bile, and  to  the  army ! "  This  proposition  was  ratified  with 
applause. 

"  But  we  should  fail  in  the  first  of  our  duties,"  continued 
he,  "  if,  in  this  public  gratitude,  we  did  not  signalize  a  part,  the 
principal,  the  vast  majority  of  the  population  of  Paris,  indig- 
nant at  the  scandals  which  for  a  moment  dishonored  these 
precincts,  and  who  have  risen  in  mass  to  reestablish  the  repre- 
sentatives. 

"  But,  citizens !  in  the  pressing  circumstances  with  which 
we  are  urged,  the  tribune  is  not  the  place  for  the  politician 
whom  you  have  appointed,  with  his  colleagues,  to  watch  over 
the  safety  of  the  country ;  while  a  government  of  faction, 
while  a  government  of  violence,  substituted  momentarily  for 
the  great  and  unanimous  expression  of  the  universal  suffrage 
of  the  people,  is  seeking  elsewhere  a  seat  of  government, 
which  will  break  under  their  feet.  Let  us  go  to  the  Hotel  de 
ViUe. 

"  I  will  not  say  to  you  that  the  moments  are  precious,  for  I 
have,  like  you,  the  confidence  and  conviction  that  the  more 
time  the  people  of  Paris  hav^e  for  conviction,  the  more  they  will 
blush  at  the  outrage  committed  against  you !  In  presence  of 
the  terrible  misunderstanding  which  may  arise  between  the 
departments,  insulated  in  their  representatives,  and  Paris,  guar- 
dian of  the  security  of  the  Assembly,  we  must  take  counsel. 
Ah,  well !  we  will  go,  we,  in  the  name  of  the  government  which 
you  have  proclaimed  a  few  days  since ;  let  us  go,  assisted  by 
the  unanimity  of  the  National  Guard,  the  Guard  Mobile, 
and  this  army,  which  it  is  impossible  to  separate ;  let  us  go  to 
unite  with  the  members  of  the  government,  who  all,  I  doubt 
not,  are  animated  with  the  same  indignation,  the  same  senti- 
ments, as  I ;  yes !  even  those  whom  the  choice  of  factions  has 
attempted  to  dishonor !  let  us  go,  to  ratify,  as  soon  as  possible, 
the  acclamations  with  which  you  have  just  nominated  with 
enthusiasm  ti.3  brave  chief  of  the  National  Guards,  the  citizen 
Clement  Thomas."  {Applause.) 

"  Citizens  !  yet  one  word,  a  single  word. 

"  At  a  moment  like  this,  the  government  is  no  longer  in 
council ;  the  place  of  the  government  is  at  your  head,  citizens 
and  National  Guards  !  its  place  is  upon  the  battle-field !  Let 
us  march  I " 

The  hall  resounded  with  acclamations.     The  soldiers  and 


244  HISTORY   OF   THB 

the  National  Guards  raised  their  bayonets  towards  the  tribune, 
as  if  to  make  a  rampart  for  the  representatives,  Lamartine 
descends,  and  advances  towards  Ledru  Rollin,  who  has  just 
entered  the  hall,  and  says  to  him  :  "  Let  us  march  to  the  Hotel 
de  Ville.  They  have  just  placed  your  name  on  the  list  of  the 
government  of  faction  ;  give  the  lie  to  the  insurgents,  by  march- 
ing with  me  against  them  !" 

The  two  members  of  government  went  out,  accompanied  by 
a  crowd  of  the  Guard  Mobile,  of  the  representatives  and  citi- 
zens, among  whom  were  M,  Murat,  son  of  the  hero  of  Naples, 
Mornay,  and  Falloux,  men  who  aspired  for  action.  Arriving 
on  the  quay,  Lamartine  threw  himself  upon  the  horse  of  a 
dragoon.  They  brought  Ledru  Rollin  the  horse  of  an  officer ; 
a  battalion  of  the  National  Guards  of  the  tenth  legion,  among 
whom  were  distinguished,  under  the  simple  garb  of  the  soldier, 
the  sons  of  the  highest  families  of  the  French  aristocracy, 
grouped  themselves  around  them.  The  regiment  of  dragoons 
of  the  brave  Colonel  Gogon  took  the  head  of  the  column. 
They  advanced  by  the  quay,  with  cries  of  "  Vive  VAssembUe  Na- 
tionale ! "  "  Guerre  aux  factieux  !  " 

The  column  was  weak  in  numbers,  but  invincible  from  its 
impulse ;  they  proposed  to  await  the  collection  of  other  forces. 
Lamartine  was  opposed  to  it,  certain  that  in  a  revolution  time 
lost  counts  more  than  expected  forces  can  profit.  In  the  midst 
of  voices,  of  cries,  of  counsel,  of  bayonets  which  pressed  around 
his  horse,  he  called  to  mind  the  ninth  of  Thermidor,  when  the 
party  of  Robespierre,  although  the  most  numerous,  was  crushed 
in  that  same  Hotel  de  Ville,  by  his  inactivity,  and  by  the  rapid 
resolution  of  the  Convention  and  Barras.  He  knew  Barbes  for 
a  man  of  action  ;  he  did  not  doubt  but  that,  already  surrounded 
by  from  seven  to  eight  thousand  accomplices,  he  would  have  in 
the  evening  a  revolutionary  army  and  government,  if  only  three 
hours  were  left  for  the  sedition. 


VL 

General  Courtais  had  just  been  insulted,  dismissed,  and  made 
prisoner  by  his  soldiers,  deceived  and  indignant  at  his  inaction, 
which  they  believed  a  design.  General  Tampour  had  been 
separated  from  his  battalions  throughout  the  day,  and  they 
were  ignorant  whether  he  was  free.  The  absent  government 
were  in  session  at  the  Luxembourg,  and  assailed  by  a  detach- 
ment of  the  sedition,  to  which  Arago,  Gamier  Pages  and  Marie 


REVOLirriON   OF    1843. 


?45 


opposed  a  firm  and  triumphant  resistance.  The  office  of  the 
minister  of  war  was  vacant.  No  minister,  no  general,  was  in- 
vested with  the  iiniversal  and  sudden  command  necessary  for 
this  extreme  moment.  Lamartine  took  upon  him  the  dictator- 
ship, commanded  by  this  total  eclipse  of  regular  military  powers. 
He  sent  for  four  pieces  of  cannon,  to  force,  if  necessary,  the 
gates  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville ;  Ledru  RoUin  and  he  agreed,  at  a 
word,  while  on  horseback,  to  give  the  verbal  command  of  Paris 
to  General  Bedeau,  whom  they  caused  to  be  sought  for  on 
the  quay  of  the  Louvre.  While  waiting,  the  unanimous  en- 
thusiasm guided,  inspired,  and  regulated  "the  column  of  attack; 
it  increased  while  marching.  Every  door  poured  forth  a  com- 
batant the  more  into  its  ranks.  All  the  windows  applauded ; 
the  women,  old  men,  and  children,  invoked  and  blessed,  with 
extended  hands,  the  avengers  of  the  national  representatives. 
Paris,  in  consternation,  shuddered  at  the  triumph  of  the  dema- 
gogues, for  a  moment  victorious,  and  whose  foreseen  excesses 
were  compared  in  the  imagination  of  the  people  with  the  crimes 
of  1793.  This  so  sudden  return  of  courage  and  probable  suc- 
cess to  the  good  citizens  elevated  the  heart  and  made  the  soul 
break  forth  in  invocations  and  transports. 


VII. 

At  the  upper  part  of  the  bridge  Saint  Michel  the  head  of  the 
column  was  stopped,  crowded  back  a  moment  by  the  masses, 
which  obstructed  the  corner  of  the  place  de  Greve  and  the  quay. 
The  dragoons  had  just  announced  that  the  Hotel  de  Ville  was 
formidably  defended,  that  the  conspirators  had  cannon,  and  that 
they  perceived  at  the  windows  preparations  for  murderous  dis- 
charges upon  the  column  when  it  should  debouch  from  the 
quay  under  the  fire  of  the  facade.  Lamartine  sent  to  instruct 
the  general  to  advance  a  second  column,  by  the  streets  which 
run  parallel  to  the  quay,  and  which  open  from  the  side  opposite 
to  the  river,  up^n  the  square ;  the  same  manoeuvre  still  as  that 
of  the  ninth  of  Thermidor,  when  Bourdon  de  I'Oise  marched 
upon  Robespierre  by  these  side  streets,  while  Barras  marched 
by  the  quay. 

At  last,  after  a  moment  given  to  the  execution  of  this  move- 
ment, Lamartine  and  his  colleague  entered  on  horseback,  at  the 
head  of  the  column  of  attack,  the  place  de  Greve,  with  cries  of 
"Vive  la  representation  nationaJe  I  "  A  movement  of  confusion 
separated  them.     The  artir.erymen  and  National  Guards,  who 

VOL.  II.  21* 


216  HISTORY    OF   THE 

surrounded  Lamartine,  conjured  him  to  dismount  his  horse,  for 
fear  that  his  elevation  above  the  crowd  would  make  him  the 
chosen  mark  for  the  discharges  which  they  expected  to  receive 
at  the  foot  of  the  edifice  :  "  No,  no ! "  cried  Lamartine  ;  "  if  any- 
one should  fall  first  for  the  cause  of  the  National  Assembly,  it 
is  I !  "  and  he  traversed  the  square  under  a  curtain  of  bayonets, 
swords,  and  flags.  His  horse  no  longer  walked  ;  it  was  raised 
up  and  carried  as  far  as  the  court  of  the  palace.  Not  a  mus- 
ket-shot had  been  fired. 

The  National  Guards,  who  had  preceded  the  head  of  the 
column,  and  the  Guard  Mobile,  rushed  to  the  assault  of  the  stair- 
cases. They  immediately  carried  them,  without  resistance  from 
Barbes  and  his  accomplices.  This  was  a  conflict  without  com- 
bat. They  were  ignorant  below  of  what  was  passing  above. 
They  expected  tragical  scenes  of  desperate  resistance,  of  murders 
and  suicides,  like  those  which  marked  the  arrest  of  Henriot  or 
Couthon.  The  crowd  was  so  dense  in  the  court  that  Lamar- 
tine could  not  dismount  his  horse.  "  Speak  to  us  !  speak  to 
us  !  "  they  cried,  extending  their  hands  and  arms  towards  him. 

"  Citizens  ! "  cried  Lamartine,  "  the  first  tribune  in  the  world 
is  the  saddle  of  a  horse,  when  one  thus  reenters  the  palace  of 
the  people,  surrounded  by  this  retinue  of  good  citizens,  armed, 
to  crush  the  factions  of  the  demagogues,  and  to  reinstate,  with 
yourselves,  the  true  republic,  and.  the  body  of  national  repre- 
sentatives." 

vm. 

Lamartine,  after  these  words,  was  less  dra^vn  than  carried 
upon  the  arms  of  the  Guard  Mobile,  the  National  Guards,  and 
the  citizens,  across  the  vestibules,  the  staircases,  and  corridors, 
as  far  as  a  small  hall  on  the  first  story,  \vhere  the  same  crowd, 
the  same  tumult,  the  same  arms,  and  the  same  enthusiasm, 
reigned. 

Some  of  the  chiefs  of  the  insurrection,  and  Barbes,  who  had 
been  seduced  into  becoming  their  accomplice,  were  already  shut 
up  in  a  neighboring  apartment.  They  had  made  no  resistance  ; 
the  promptness  of  the  resolution,  and  the  rapidity  of  the  march 
of  the  column  of  attack,  directed  by  the  two  members  of  the 
government,  had  not  left  the  conspirators  time  to  increase  their 
number,  to  call  their  partisans,  and  organize  their  defence. 
The  five  or  six  thousand  men  who  had  entered  with  them  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  had  disbanded  and  dispersed  at  the  sight  of  the 
first  companies  of  National  Guards,  horse,  foot,  and  dragoons. 


BE/OLUTION    OF    1848.  247 

under  the  command  of  "M.  de  Gogon  himself,  an  active  colonel, 
and  adored  by  his  regiment. 

Assembled  in  tumultuous  council,  in  the  hall  of  all  the  revo- 
lutions, at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  their  triumph  had  only  lasted  two 
hours.  They  had  employed  them  in  constituting  themselves, 
by  a  sort  of  popular  vote,  into  a  collective  revolutionary  dictator- 
ship, composed  of  Barbts,  Louis  Blanc,  Albert,  Blanqui,  Easpail, 
Huber,  Sobrier,  Proudhon,  Pierre  Leroux,  and  Cabet.  It  was 
the  government  of  clubs  proscribing  the  government  of  the 
nation  ;  the  coalition  of  sects  against  the  representatives  of  the 
country.  j\Iany  of  the  members  of  this  government  were  even 
ignorant  that  they  had  usurped  their  names.  Lamartine  and 
Ledru  RoUin  also  signed,  in  revolutionary  style,  and  without 
other  title  than  urgency  and  public  vengeance,  the  order  to 
arrest  the  conspirators  present,  and  to  conduct  them  to  Vin- 
cennes. 

But  the  immense  and  armed  multitude  which  ever}'-  moment 
came  crowding  in  upon  the  square,  and  the  indignation  of 
Paris,  which  was  roused  by  the  horror  and  by  the  sudden  sup- 
pression of  the  attempt,  made  Ledru  RoUin,  Lamartine,  and 
Marrast,  fear  that  the  criminals  could  not  in  the  day-time  trav- 
erse with  impunity  the  streets  and  squares,  excited  by  these 
persons  to  revolt.  They  were  un\villing  that  a  revolution 
which  had  been  thus  far  pure  should  shed  the  first  drop  of 
blood,  even  the  blood  of  those  who  had  wished  to  corrupt  and 
to  tarnish  it.  They  knew  that  the  worst  corruption  for  a  people 
is  that  of  blood  shed  before  its  eyes.  In  accordance  with  ]M. 
Marrast,  who"  had  preserv^ed  his  intrepidity,  although  impris- 
oned by  the  sedition  in  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  they  provided  coolly 
against  this  danger,  by  ordering  that  the  prisoners  should  be 
conducted  to  Vincennes  at  an  advanced  hour  of  the  night,  and 
under  a  strong  escort. 


D 


IX. 

These  measures  having  beei  tak«n,  the  increasing  and 
tumultuous  crowd  in  the  palace  separated  the  two  members  of 
government. 

Lamartine  hastened  to  go  forth  and  reassure  the  National 
Assembly,  which  was  in  permanent  session.  During  the  few 
moments  that  he  had  passed  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  the  square  and 
the  quays  had  become  covered  with  the  bayonets  of  all  the  legions 
of  Paris.     Of  the  two  horses  which  he  had  sent  for  at  his  resi- 


248  UISTORY   OF    THE 

dence,  one,  mounted  by  M.  de  Forbin  Janson,  had  been  stopped 
by  the  arrest  of  this  brave  volunteer,  v^rho  had  been  mistaken 
for  an  insurgent,  and  cast  into  prison.  The  other,  mounted  by 
a  young  National  Guard,  M.  Guillemeteau,  had  thrown  its 
rider  on  Pont  Neuf.  This  horse  had  been  brought  back  to  the 
square  by  a  dragoon.  Lamartine,  almost  suffocated,  upon  com- 
ing out  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  by  the  rush  towards  him  on  the 
part  of  National  Guards  and  the  people,  hunted  for  his  horse, 
to  escape  from  the  crowd,  and  to  breathe  above  the  multitude 
in  which  he  was  plunged.  Wliile  passing  in  front  of  the  regi- 
ment of  dragoons,  he  recognized  his  horse,  and  sprang  into  the 
saddle. 

He  returned  along  the  quays  to  the  National  Assembly. 
Groups  of  people,  intoxicated  by  this  victory  of  the  true  repub- 
lic over  an  anarchy  of  a  few  hours,  surrounded  him,  clapping 
their  hands.  His  horse's  bridle  was  held  by  artillerymen.  He 
was  followed  by  a  train  of  National  Guards,  on  horseback  and 
on  foot,  of  dragoons,  and  of  citizens,  who  relieved  each  other 
in  shouts  of  applause,  in  pressing  his  hand,  in  touching  his 
garments.  The  sidewalks,  the  ends  of  the  bridges,  the  win- 
dows, the  roofs,  the  terraces  of  the  Louvre  and  the  Tuileries, 
were  covered  with  m.en  of  every  condition,  with  women,  old 
men,  and  children,  who  clapped  their  hands  as  he  passed,  who 
shed  tears,  who  saluted  him  with  their  handkerchiefs  waved 
from  a  distance,  and  who  threw  flowers  upon  his  horse.  A 
single  cry  of  "  Vive  la  Republique  !  "  "  Vive  VAssemblee  Nation- 
ale  !  "  "  Vive  Laviartine  .'  "  followed  him,  constantly  renewed, 
from  the  steps  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  to  the  steps  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies.  Never  had  the  name  of  a  simple  citizen, 
adopted  as  the  symbol  of  reestablished  order,  been  raised  higher 
by  a  people,  to  descend  more  suddenly,  a  few  days  afterwards, 
into  unpopularity.  We  see,  that,  of  all  the  triumphs,  the  one 
which  most  intoxicated  the  French  people  was  the  triumph  over 
anarchy. 


Lamartine,  dismounting  from  his  horse,  ascended  the  tribune ; 
he  announced  to  the  Assenbly  that  its  rule  was  established,  and 
that  the  government  was  about  to  take  measures  to  punish  and 
prevent  such  outrages.  The  Assembly  separated  with  cries  of 
Vive  la  Republique  I  The  National  Guards  of  the  precincts 
and  the  departments  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  capital  flowed, 
of  their  own  accord,  at  night  and  in  the  morning,  into  Paris,  to 


REVOLUTION    OF     184S.  249 


avengvj,  if  need  be,  their  representatives.  During  the  night 
the  government;  assembled  at  the  Luxembourg ;  regulated  this 
movement ;  interrogated  the  prefect  of  police,  Caussidiere ; 
caused  the  accomplices  in  the  sedition  to  be  arrested  ;  ap- 
pointed ]\r.  Cli'ment  Thomas  commandant-general  of  the 
National  Guard  at  Paris  ;  and,  in  place  of  the  generals  whose 
energy  had  been  paralyzed  by  indecision  and  surprise,  substi- 
tuted chiefs  more  active  and  more  popular  in  the  army. 

In  the  morning  there  remained  no  other  mark  of  the  revolu- 
tionary' movement,  except  among  the  Montagnards  at  the  pre- 
fecture of  police,  and  in  the  barracks  of  the  Republican  Guard. 

These  armed  revolutionary'  corps,  whom  Caussidit're  had 
under  his  command  for  the  safety  of  Paris,  badly  influenced  by 
their  sympathy  with  the  clubs,  or  badly  directed  by  Caussidiere, 
had  failed  during  the  evenino;  in  all  their  duties  :  their  inac- 
tivity,  at  least,  had  abandoned  the  National  Assembly  to  inva- 
sion, and  the  Hotel  de  Ville  to  conspiracy.  The  government 
ordered  their  expurgation.  The  Republican  Guards  obeyed  at 
the  first  summons,  and  gave  up  their  arms  Avith  discontent. 
The  corps  of  Montagnards  fortified  themselves,  to  the  number 
of  three  thousand  men,  in  the  prefecture  of  police,  not  wishing 
to  recognize  any  other  authority  than  that  of  Caussidiere,  and 
threatening  to  sustain  a  desperate  siege,  and  to  shed  streams 
of  blood  of  the  National  Guard,  if  they  should  attempt  to  dis- 
lodge them  by  force.  General  Bedeau  received  orders  to  sur- 
round the  prefecture  with  six  thousand  troops  and  twenty-five 
thousand  men  of  the  National  Guard,  to  constrain  these  undis- 
ciplined or  rebellious  soldiers  to  submission,  and  to  effect  their 
surrender  of  arms. 

General  Bedeau  surrounded  them  from  the  morning.  The 
exasperation  of  the  National  Guard  against  these  suspected 
accomplices  or  secret  partisans  of  the  clubs  was  extreme. 
They  called  loudly  for  the  assault.  Cannon  menaced  the  gates. 
These  three  thousand  soldiers  of  Caussidiere  had  a  large 
amount  of  ammunition.  They  had  determined  to  sell  their 
surrender  at  the  cost  of  much  bloodshed,  and,  in  case  of  ex- 
tremity, to  raze  the  quarter  to  the  ground. 

At  two  o'clock  Caussidiere,  called  a  second  time  to  the  Lux- 
embourg by  the  executive  commission,  refused  to  oflTer  his  vol- 
untary resignation.  He  held  ambiguous  language,  in  which 
obedience  and  concealed  menace  were  confounded  by  equivocal 
expressions  and  gestures.  Lamartine,  who,  on  the  day  before 
had  still  been  of  opinion  to  preserve  Caussidiere,  as  a  man  use- 


250  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ful,  courag-eous,  and  eas\'  to  be  attached,  by  his  good  feelings 
and  his  ambition,  to  the  party  of  order  in  the  republic,  no  longer 
hesitated.  He  went  out  with  Caussidiere  and  entered  his  car- 
riage. He  took  with  him  the  road  to  the  prefecture  of  police. 
He  represented  to  him,  on  the  route,  the  peril  of  his  situation, 
the  greatness  of  his  responsibility,  the  absolute  necessity  of  his 
offering  his  resignation,  the  esteem  which  would  attach  to  his 
name,  if  he  should  succeed,  as  he  must,  in  obtaining  the  sub- 
mission of  his  army  without  the  effusion  of  blood. 

Caussidiere  knew  that  of  all  the  members  of  government, 
Lamartine,  although  wholly  a  stranger  to  his  former  revolu- 
tionary course,  had  been  the  most  confiding  in  his  character, 
and  the  most  disposed  to  support  him.  He  yielded  to  his  repre- 
sentations, made  from  an  interest  not  to  be  suspected.  He 
authorized  Lamartine  to  carry  back  his  resignation  to  the  gov- 
ernment ;  he  promised  to  make  the  utmost  efforts  to  disperse 
the  Montagnards.  Lamartine,  on  his  part,  the  idol,  that  day. 
of  the  National  Guards  of  Paris  and  the  departments,  engaged 
to  suspend  the  attack,  and  to  dispose  the  citizens  to  accommo- 
dation and  indulgence  for  the  besieged. 

Upon  the  bridge  Saint  Michel,  the  carriage  which  conducted 
the  two  negotiators  came  into  the  midst  of  twenty  thousand 
National  Guards  blockading  the  prefecture.  They  recog- 
nized Lamartine;  they  tore  him  from  the  carriage,  they 
covered  him  with  acclamations,  they  stifled  him  with  enthusi- 
asm, they  surrounded  him  in  such  crowds  and  in  such  trans- 
ports that  it  was  a  long  time  before  he  could  cross  the  bridge 
to  pass  them  in  review  and  exhort  them  to  peace.  All  ranks 
broke  at  his  name,  and  threw  themselves  towards  him  with 
cries  of  "Fi/;e  Lamartine  .'"  He  was  obliofed  to  take  refug-e  in 
a  side  street,  to  rescue  himself  from  their  intoxication.  The 
crowd  of  National  Guards  rushed  forward  upon  his  steps ;  he 
escaped  vvith  difficulty  from  the  multitude,  by  entering  the 
house  of  a  printer.  Some  officers  barricaded  the  door  within, 
against  the  passionate  zeal  of  the  National  Guards  and  the 
people.  There,  he  called  successively  several  of  the  com- 
manders ;  he  charged  them  to  spread  the  intelligence  in  the 
ranks  of  an  approaching  accommodation.  The  irritation  of  the 
assailants  was  calmed.  Caussidiere,  on  his  part,  reasoned  with 
and  quieted  the  Montagnards.  General  Bedeau  dissolved  them 
without  concession,  and  without  resistance.  The  blood  of  Paris 
was  once  more  spared.  The  fifteenth  of  May  inspired  more 
confidence  in  the  National  Ass  nnbly,  and  more  energy  in  the 


L.      ,.r 

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REVOLUTION   OF    1348.  251 

government.     They  were  yet  sailing  against  the  wind,  but 
firmer  hands  were  at  the  helm. 


XI. 

General  Cavaignac.on  his  arrival  at  Paris,  received  the  min- 
istry of  war,  which  awaited  him,  as  we  have  seen  above.  He 
took  possession  of  it  with  that  firm  though  modest  assurance 
which  indicates  in  a  man  confidence  in  his  own  powers.  La- 
martine,  who  foresaw  the  approaching  and  inevitable  combats 
for  the  establishment  of  the  republic,  placed  at  its  cradle  be- 
tween two  kinds  of  enemies,  studied  the  general  at  a  glance, 
and  did  not  hesitate  to  confide  the  safety  of  the  republic  to  his 
character.  He  urged  him  to  profit  by  the  popularity  of  his 
name,  and  to  demand  of  the  government  disciplined  forces  suf- 
ficient to  protect  the  National  Assembly  against  the  approach- 
ing attempts  of  the  factions.  They  estimated,  in  concert,  these 
forces,  at  fifty-five  thousand  bayonets  in  Paris,  to  wit :  fifteen 
thousand  men  of  the  Guard  Mobile  ;  two  thousand  six  hundred 
men  of  the  Eepublican  Guard,  purified  and  reorganized;  two 
thousand  and  fifty  guardians  of  Paris  ;  twenty  thousand  troops 
of  the  line  in  the  barracks  ;  —  in  fine,  fifteen  thousand  troops  of 
the  line,  in  the  division  of  Paris,  which  could  be  brought  in  a 
a  few  hours  upon  the  field  of  battle. 

These  military  precautions,  more  than  sufficient,  loudly  called 
for  by  Lamartine,  did  not  meet  with  .  any  opposition  in  the 
council.  Every  one  there  wished,  with  the  same  sincerity,  a 
republic  strongly  armed  against  anarchy,  the  danger  of  rising 
republics.  It  was  always  supposed  abroad  that  there  were 
dissensions  and  divisions  between  the  members  of  the  govern- 
ment, especially  between  Lamartine  and  Ledru  Kollin ;  these 
divisions  no  longer  existed,  since  the  great  act  of  concord,  which 
had  rallied  to  the  National  Assembly  the  three  principal  shades 
of  republican  government,  except  the  socialists.  All  the  mem- 
bers of  government,  and  all  the  ministers,  had  not  only  the  same 
duty,  but  the  same  interest  of  ambition,  to  serve  loyally  the 
republic,  the  government,  and  the  Assembly.  The  energetic- 
and  profound  dissensions,  which,  before  this  period  and  since, 
separated  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  Lamartine  from  the 
thoughts  and  feelings  of  some  of  his  colleagues,  ought  not  to 
discolor  the  truth  of  history.  Lamartine  did  not,  at  that  period, 
see  a  single  symptom  which  did  not  attest  in  all  the  most 
perfect  identity  of  views,  and  the  most  irreproachable  loyalty 


252  HISTORY   OF    THE 

of  concurrence  for  the  regular  establishment  of  the  republic. 
There  was,  indeed,  no  alliance,  but  there  was  no  discontent. 

This  was  not  the  case  with  certain  agents  of  the  administra- 
tion, and  certain  members  of  the  National  Assembly,  around 
the  government.  There  was  apparent  in  their  acts  a  spirit  of 
sect,  of  personal  proselytism,  and  of  monopolizing  the  republic 
in  their  own  hands  and  in  the  hands  of  their  friends  ;  a  spirit 
of  proselytism,  narrow,  jealous,  small,  and  altogether  contrary 
to  the  true  spirit  of  government.  It  did  not  escape  Lamartine, 
that  the  administrative  selections  were  concerted  and  made  in 
advance  in  these  cliques  of  the  government.  They  were  often 
contrary  to  his  views  ;  but  indifferent  as  to  men,  and  without 
any  aspiration  for  personal  predominance,  he  affected  not  to 
see,  in  order  to  avoid  division. 

XII. 

The  review,  prepared  by  government  in  honor  of  the  Na- 
tional Assembly,  and  put  off  in  consequence  of  the  sedition  of 
the  fifteenth  of  May,  took  place  on  the  twenty-first  of  May,  on 
the  Champ-de-Max*s.  Three  hundred  thousand  bayonets  and 
ten  thousand  swords,  twined  with  flowers,  defiled  before  the 
platform,  occupied  by  the  Assembly,  the  ministers,  and  the  gov- 
ernment. A  single  cry  of  ^'Vive  VAssemhUe  Nationale  et  la 
RepiMique  ! "  was  raised  to  the  sky,  from  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning  till  night.  This  was  the  adoption  of  the  Assembly  by 
the  people  and  by  the  National  Guards,  the  consecration  of  re- 
publican sovereignty. 

This  festival  gave  a  feeling  of  their  inviolability  to  the  rep- 
resentatives, and  of  its  force  to  the  country.  Lamartine  as- 
sisted in  it ;  he  still  received  some  acclamations,  and  crowns  of 
oak-leaves  from  the  hands  of  the  National  Guards  and  the 
people  of  the  departments.  But  already  his  popularity,  as 
rapid  in  its  fall  as  it  was  slow  in  rising,  was  buried  under  the 
resentments  of  the  party  of  the  fallen  monarchy,  under  the 
ingratitude  of  the  destitute,  and  under  the  menacing  agitations 
of  the  national  workshops.  Some  reproached  him  with  not 
having  restored  to  them  a  throne  ;  others,  for  not  having  put 
the  National  Assembly  under  a  yoke,  and  for  not  having  deliv- 
ered society  to  their  rule. 


KEVOLUTION   OF    1843.  253 


xni. 


It  must  be  acknowledged,  the  position  of  the  government 
was  false,  yet  inevitable.     It  wanted  unity;  and  the  necessity 
of  not  dividing  the  republic,  at  the  outset,  into  two  hostile  par- 
ties, rendered  impossible  at  that  time  the  immediate  restora- 
tion of  unity.     All  collective  government  is  feeble,  undecided, 
and  vacillating,  since  it  is  irresponsible.     Collective  responsi- 
bility is  without  name  ;  and  responsibility  without  a  name  can- 
not  exist.      Doubtless,  if   a  single   man   had   been    then    at 
the  head  of  executive  power,  he  would  have  been  able  to  fore- 
see, provide,  and  will,  with  a  very  different  degree  of  ener^ 
from  these  five  men,  obliged  to  combine  together  their  intelli- 
gence, opinions,  and  actions.     These  five  men  did  not  deceive 
themselves  in  this  respect.     Moreover,  they  felt  themselves 
crushed  between  the  National  Assembly,  Avhich  demanded  of 
them  the  reestablishment  of  order  without  a  period  of  transi- 
tion, and  the  convulsive  events  of  a  vast  revolution,  which 
commanded  of  them  prudence  and  management,  for  fear  of 
bringing  on  an  inevitable  shock  before  having  the  power  to 
resist  it.     Thus  this  government  was,  and  could  be,  nothing 
else,  but  an  interim,  painfully  administered  by  those  who  had 
accepted  the  ungrateful  and  impossible  mission.     To  fill  up 
the  abyss  of  a  month  or  two  between  the  revolution  termi- 
nated and  the  constitutional   power  restored   to  vigor,  —  to 
assume  the  responsibility  of  the  National  Assembly  before  the 
people,  and  of  the  people  before  the  National  Assembly,  dis- 
contenting both, — to  guard,  day  by  day,  against  difficulties, — 
to  prepare   the  elements  of  force  for  future  power,  —  to  resist 
the  last  assaults  of  factions  dispossessed  and  made  desperate 
by  the  installation  of  the  national  sovereignty,  —  to   foresee 
approaching  and  menacing  insurrections,  —  to  suspend  them 
as  long  as  possible,  —  to  confront  them  on  the  day  when  they 
broke  out,  —  to  perish  from  responsibility  in  defeat,  or  from 
ingratitude  in  victor)\  —  such  was  the  part  ready  marked  for 
this  government  of  temporization.     It  was  only  good   in   the 
hearts  of  those  who  had  devoted  themselves  to  it,  from  their 
having  appreciated  it  beforehand ;  and  their  pretended  ambi- 
tion, at  this  moment,  was  only  a  voluntary  and  meritorious 
sacrifice  of  their  ambition,  a  martyrdom  of  their  name. 

Thus,  I  shall  not  speak  at  large  of  the  acts  of  the  executive 
commission.  They  were  an  intervention,  active,  vigilant,  dis- 
interested, but  often  inefficacious,  between  the  insurrections  of 

VOL.  n.  22 


254  HISTORY   OF   THE 

the  people  and  the  Assembly.  A  cloud,  laden  with  tempests, 
was  incessantly  before  the  eyes  of  the  government.  It  was 
the  national  workshops. 

This  army  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  workmen, 
composed,  in  great  part,  of  men  out  of  employment  and  turbu- 
lent agents,  was  the  deposit  of  misery,  idleness,  vagrancy,  vice, 
and  soon  of  sedition,  which  a  population  of  thirty-six  millions 
of  men,  agitated  by  a  revolution,  leaves  upon  its  shore,  on 
retiring. 

The  provisional  government,  in  feeding  this  mass  of  indi- 
gence, during  the  rest  from  labor  for  four  months  of  an  indus- 
trial multitude,  collected  at  a  capital  in  conflagration,  never 
had,  as  has  been  thought,  the  design  of  establishing  an  insti- 
tution. This  was  not  an  institution,  it  was  an  alms;  an  alms 
at  once  of  assistance  and  of  policy.  For,  without  this  sub- 
sidy of  the  rich  to  support  the  poor,  what  would  have  become 
at  once  of  property  and  poverty  ?  The  one  would  have  been 
ravaged,  or  the  other  would  have  died  of  hunger ;  two  crimes 
which  a  government  prudent  for  the  rich,  kindly  disposed  to 
the  poor,  could  not  have  committed. 

But  the  provisional  government  could  no  longer  conceal  from 
itself,  that  on  the  day  when  it  should  be  necessary  to  change 
this  temporary  institution,  to  dissolve  this  mass,  and  to  dis- 
tribute this  unoccupied,  imperious  and  paid  multitude  over 
other  parts  of  the  territory,  and  upon  real  labors,  there  would 
be  a  resistance,  a  conflict,  a  shock,  a  formidable  sedition,  per- 
haps bloodshed. 

It  was  for  this  event  that  the  executive  commission  was  pre- 
paring in  silence ;  before  exposing  to  it  the  National  Assembly, 
their  duty  was  double.  To  mitigate  this  shock,  by  effecting, 
at  first,  large  reductions  of  their  numbers,  by  wages  offered 
elsewhere,  by  works  prepared  on  a  great  scah,  by  liberal  laws 
of  pauperism,  and  an  evident  design  of  assi:  ting  real  misery ; 
and  then  to  attack  the  difficulty  with  vigor,  and  to  strengthen 
itself,  with  an  irresistible  armed  force,  to  dissolve  the  last  body 
which  should  attempt  to  resist  the  law,  and  which  should  take 
its  idleness  without  excuse  as  a  pretext  for  rebellion. 

Some  members  of  the  executive  commission  were  occupied 
actively  in  carrying  out  this  first  idea,  with  M.  Trelat,  a  well- 
known  minister,  loved  by  t'le  suffering  portion  of  the  people. 
Lamartine  was  particularly  engaged  upon  the  second,  with  the 
minister  of  war. 

But  the   National  Assembly,  recently  arrived  from  their 


REVOLUTION    OF    1843. 


265 


departments,  excited  by  the  resentments  of  men  embittered 
against  the  republic,  witness  of  the  scandalous  vagrancy  of 
this  wandering  army  of  the  workshops,  as  yet  but  slightly 
initiated  into  the  difficulties  of  the  position  of  the  capital, 
impatient  of  the  temporization  and  managements  necessary  to 
lead  to  a  dissolution  without  a  catastrophe,  were  irritated  by 
the  delays  of  the  commission.  The  journals  of  the  monarchi- 
cal parties  did  not  cease  to  repeat  that  the  men  of  the  provis- 
ional government,  deprived  of  their  ambition  by  the  presence 
of  the  national  sovereignty,  guarded,  increased,  and  paid  this 
army  of  pauperism,  to  press  upon  the  representatives,  to  intimi- 
date them,  and  subject  them,  by  a  visible  threat,  to  their  guilty 
desire  of  rule. 

The  Assembly  was  not  far  from  giving  faith  to  these  calum- 
nies. While  the  government  was  consuming  itself  in  vigils, 
in  efforts,  in  prudence,  and  preparations  to  dissolve,  without 
the  effusion  of  blood,  a  soldiery  whose  existence  it  deplored, 
and  whose  sedition  it  repressed,  the  Assembly  saw  in  the  prin- 
cipal members  of  this  government  perverse  accomplices  of  the 
sedition.  Lamartine  and  Ledru  Rollin  were  the  most  accused 
by  these  insinuations.  Their  simultaneous  presence  in  the 
commission,  in  spite  of  their  known  differences  of  opinion  as 
to  the  principles  of  the  republic,  was  a  proof,  it  was  said,  of  an 
odious  alliance,  in  which  they  had  sacrificed  their  principles  to 
unite  their  ambition. 

Hence  rose  some  too  loud  demands  and  too  rash  motions 
from  the  tribune  of  the  Assembly.  These  motions  resounded 
unseasonably  abroad,  and  they  served  as  texts  to  the  clubs,  to 
the  journals  of  the  demagogues,  and  to  the  orators  of  the 
crowds,  to  calumniate,  in  their  turn,  the  National  Assembly,  and 
fo  animate  the  people  against  the  pretended  selfishness  of  the 


ourgeoisie 


The  anti-republican  factions,  and  the  ambition  concealed 
under  the  dynastic  denominations,  appeared  also  to  concur  in 
the  labor  of  demoralization  and  sedition  which  was  manifested 
in  the  army  of  the  national  workshops  as  the  moment  of  their 
disbanding  approached.  The  prefect  of  police,  M.  Trouve 
Chauvel,  a  man  new  to  these  difficult  duties,  but  intrepid,  in- 
defatigable and  impartially  hostile  to  every  faction,  and  devoted, 
with  a  superior  and  calm  sense,  to  the  safety  of  the  country, 
was  deceived  in  nothing  as  to  the  dangers  of  each  morning. 
He  saw  dawning  a  new  faction.     This  faction  seemed  to  wish 


256  HISTORY   OF    THE 

to  grow  with  the  germ  of  the  young  republic,  to  be  confounded 
with  it,  or  to  crush  it.     It  was  the  Bonapartist  faction. 

This  faction  had,  they  said,  many  agents  in  the  army  of  the 
national  workshops.  Were  these  agents  paid  by  voluntary 
subsidies  obtained  from  individual  devotion  to  the  memory  of 
the  emperor  ?  Were  they  kept  in  pay  simply  by  their  fanati- 
cism for  a  great  name  ?  Was  it  a  sect  ?  Was  it  a  natural 
and  spontaneous  propagandism  of  a  remembrance  living  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  and  reviving  of  itself  in  a  moment  when 
all  thoughts  were  conflicting  in  every  mind?  We  are  induced 
to  believe  that  the  immense  popularity  of  the  name  of  Napoleon 
was  the  whole  conspiracy.  But  this  popularity,  betrayed  in 
cries  of  Vive  V Empereiir .'  and  in  open  aspirations  for  a  mili- 
tary dictatorship,  proclaimed  by  the  demagogues,  became  a 
menace  to  the  republic.  Numerous  crowds  were  collected 
every  evening  on  the  boulevards,  traversed  and  harangued  by 
the  partisans  of  Napoleon.  The  government  employed  with 
energy  the  Guard  Mobile,  and  the  National  Guard,  to  dissolve 
them.  They  increased  every  day.  M.  Clement  Thomas, 
commandant-general  of  the  National  Guard,  devoted  his  elo- 
quence, his  person,  and  his  life,  in  the  midst  of  this  seditious 
people.  The  government  exercised  its  influence.  It  proclaimed 
the  law  against  riotous  meetings.  In  a  single  night,  M.  Cle- 
ment Thomas  arrested  five  hundred  of  these  agitators.  The 
riots  ceased,  but  the  double  leaven  of  sedition,  which  lay  con- 
cealed in  the  Bonapartist  faction  and  the  faction  of  the  desti- 
tute, did  not  cease  to  envenom  the  spirit  of  the  national  work- 
shops. 

XIV. 

Lamartine  felt  the  danger.  He  resolved  to  combat  it  with 
energy,  before  it  assumed  an  irresistible  form.  He  was  an 
enemy  of  proscriptions,  but  not  of  severe  precautions,  which, 
by  temporarily  keeping  an  individual  at  a  distance,  would  pre- 
serve an  institution  and  a  country.  He  took,  with  his  col- 
leagues, the  initiative  in  a  decree  which  tended  to  maintain, 
during  the  foundation  of  the  republic,  the  ostracism  of  the 
prince  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  He  was,  of  all  the  mem- 
bers of  that  proscribed  dynasty,  the  one  who  was  the  most 
signalized  by  the  popular  favor  Heir  of  the  imperial  throne, 
in  virtue  of  a  decree  of  the  senate,  this  prince,  little  known, 
and  badly  represented,  at  this  period,  in  France,  was  tlie  only 
one  who  had  endeavored  to  take  advantage  of  this   title  to 


o 


REVOLUTION   OF    1848.  257 

Jie  soverei^ty  of  France,  by  two  attempts,  which  had  at  once 
spread  abroad  and  exiled  his  name. 

The  whole  government,  partaking  the  solicitude  of  Lamar- 
tine  for  the  republic,  signed  the  decree.  Lamartine  carried  the 
decree  to  the  National  Assembly.  He  proposed  to  read  it, 
at  the  end  of  the  session.  A  discussion  respecting  the  interior 
brought  him  unexpectedly  to  the  tribune.  While  he  was  re- 
plying to  a  speech  of  the  opposition,  they  announced  to  him 
tliat  Bonapartist  rioters  covered  the  place  de  la  Concorde,  and 
that  a  shot  fired  at  the  commandant-general,  Clement  Thomas, 
had  just  pierced  the  hand  of  one  of  his  officers.  Lamartine, 
indignant,  suspended  his  discourse,  drew  from  his  breast  the 
decree  of  the  temporary  proscription  of  Louis  Napoleon,  placed 
it  on  the  tribune,  and  resumed  his  speech. 

"Citizens,"  said  he,  "a  fatal  circumstance  has  just  inter- 
rupted the  discourse  which  I  had  the  honor  of  addressing  to 
this  Assembly.  While  I  spoke  of  the  conditions  of  the  recon- 
struction of  order,  and  the  guarantees  we  were  all  disposed  to 
give  for  the  ree'stablishment  of  authority,  a  shot,  many  musket- 
shots,  it  is  said,  were  fired,  one  upon  the  commandant  of  the 
National  Guards  of  Paris,  another  upon  one  of  the  brave  offi- 
cers of  the  army,  a  third,  in  fine,  upon  the  breast  of  an  officer 
of  the  National  Guards.  These  musket-shots  were  fired  amidst 
cries  of  Vive  V Empereur ! 

"  Gentlemen,  it  is  the  first  drop  of  blood  which  has  stained 
the  revolution,  ever  pure  and  glorious,  of  the  twenty-fourth  of 
February.  Glory  to  the  populace  !  glory  to  the  different  parties 
of  the  republic  !  at  least  this  blood  has  not  been  shed  by  their 
hands ;  it  has  flowed,  not  in  the  name  of  liberty,  but  in  the 
name  of  the  fanaticism  of  military  souvenirs,  and  of  an  opin- 
ion, naturally,  though  perhaps  involuntarily,  the  inveterate 
enemy  of  every  republic. 

"  Citizens!  in  deploring  with  you  the  calamity  which  has  just 
occurred,  the  government  has  not  incurred  the  reproach  of  not 
being  armed,  as  far  as  was  in  its  power,  against  these  events. 
This  very  morning,  an  hour  before  the  session,  we  have  signed 
unanimously  a  declaration  which  we  proposed  to  read  to  jou 
at  the  close  of  the  session,  and  which  this  circumstance  com- 
pels me  to  read  to  you  at  this  moment.  When  the  audac- 
ity of  factions  is  taken  in  the  very  fact,  and  found  witli  its 
hand  bathed  in  the  blood  of  Frenchmen,  the  law  ought  to  be 
applied  with  acclamations.     [UTianimous  applause.) 

"  The  declaration,  which  I  shall  have  the  honor  of  reading 

VOL.  u.  22* 


258  HISTORY    OF    THE 

to  the  Assembly,"  continued  Lamartine,  "  intends  nothing  but 
the  execution  of  the  existing  law.  It  was  necessary  for  the 
verification  of  the  powers  which  may  take  place  to-morrow ;  it 
was  indispensable,  in  order  that  minds  should  be  prepared  for 
the  deliberation  of  another  proposition,  made  respecting  the 
same  subject,  and  which  must  be  discussed  to-morrow  or  the 
day  after  ;  it  was  necessary,  I  say,  also,  that  the  National  As- 
sembly should  know  the  intentions  of  the  executive  commis- 
sion, in  regard  to  Charles  Louis  Bonaparte. 

"  Behold  the  text  of  the  decree  which  we  propose  to  you: 

"  '  The  commission  of  executive  power,  in  view  of  the  art.  3 
of  the  law  of  the  13th  of  January ; 

" '  Considering  that  Charles  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte  is  com- 
prehended in  the  law  of  1832,  which  exiled  from  the  French 
territory  the   members  of  the  Bonaparte  family ; 

" '  Considering  that  if  there  has  been  made  an  exception  in  fact, 
to  this  law,  by  the  vote  of  the  National  Assembly,  which  has 
admitted  three  members  of  this  family  to  form  part  of  the  As- 
sembly, these  exceptions,  all  of  them  individual,  do  not  extend, 
either  in  law  or  in  fact,  to  other  members  of  the  same  family  ; 

"  '  Considering  that  France  desires  to  found  in  peace  and  in 
order  a  republican  government,  without  being  disturbed  in  its 
work  by  pretensions  or  dynastic  ambition  of  a  nature  to  form 
parties  and  factions  in  the  state,  and  consequently  to  foment, 
even  involuntarily,  civil  war  ; 

" '  Considering  that  Charles  Louis  Bonaparte  has  twice  assumed 
the  position  of  a  pretender,  by  claiming  a  mock  republic,  in 
virtue  of  the  decree  of  the  senate  of  the  year  XIIL  ; 

"  '  Considering  that  agitations,  outraging  the  popular  republic 
which  we  wish  to  found,  compromising  the  safety  of  institu- 
tions and  the  public  peace,  have  been  already  discovered  in  the 
name  of  Charles  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte  ; 

"  '  Considering  that  these  agitations,  symptoms  of  guilty  in- 
trigues, might  create  a  difficulty  for  the  peaceful  establishment 
of  the  republic,  if  they  were  authorized  by  the  negligence  or 
feebleness  of  government ; 

"  '  Considering  that  the  government  must  accept  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  dangers  which  menace  the  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment, if  it  fails  in  the  first  of  its  duties,  by  not  executing  an 
existing  law,  more  than  ever  justified^  during  an  unsettled  pe- 
riod, by  reasons  of  state  policy  and  by  the  public  safety; 

"  '  Declares  :  that  it  will  enforce,  as  far  as  regards  Louis  Bona- 
parte, the  law  of  1832,  u'ltil  the  day  when  the  National  Assem- 
bly shall  have  otherwise  decided."    (The  whole  Assembly  rose 


RF.VOLUTION    OF    184S.  259 

with  the  cry  of  Vive  la  Rcpiihliqiie!   with  the   exception  of 
eight  or  ten  members  of  the  representative  body.) 

"  You  feel,  citizens,"  resumed  the  orator,  "  that  the  truly 
legitimate  emotion,  produced  within  these  precincts,  by  the 
event  which  has  just  taken  place,  obliges  me  to  interrupt  and 
suppress  the  greater  part  of  the  discussion  which  I  desired  to 
open  with  the  National  Assembly.  I  come,  at  once,  to  the 
final  considerations  which  this  event  excites  in  my  mind. 

"  After  the  declaration,  which  you  have  just  heard,  after  the 
preceding  decree,  after  those  which  will  be  passed,  with  as 
much  care  and  moderation  as  firmness,  to  repress  all  factions, 
if  there  are  any,  within  the  limits  of  law  and  republican  order, 
you  will  not  accuse,  I  hope,  the  government  for  the  interim,  of 
feebleness  or  neglect  of  its  duties.  However  glorious  may  be 
the  name  with  which  a  faction  in  the  republic  is  covered,  we 
shall  know  how  to  tear  away  the  veil,  to  see  behind  the  name 
only  the  faction,  if  it  exists. 

"  France  has  seriously  adopted  the  republic;  she  will  defend 
it  against  all. 

"  Yes,  we  have  seriously  adopted  it,  and  we  will  defend  it 
against  all  the  perils  which  may  be  raised  against  it,  even  in 
the  name  of  the  most  glorious  and  legitimate  remembrances. 
We  will  never  allow  France  to  degrade  herself;  she  shall 
never  degrade  herself  so  far  as  to  permit,  as  in  the  unfortunate 
period  of  the  Lower  Empire,  the  republic  to  be  sold,  under  any 
name,  into  the  hands  of  a  few  enthusiasts  !  "  (The  Assembly 
arose  anew  at  these  words,  and  ratified  by  its  general  acclama- 
tions the  energetic  resolution  of  the  government.) 

XV. 

Some  days  after,  the  rioters  pressing  anew  on  the  National 
Assembly,  the  government  resolved  to  receive  the  battle.  It  col- 
lected troops  and  cannon  round  the  Assembly,  convinced  that 
it  was  better  to  resist  with  open  force  the  capricious  demands 
of  the  people,  than  to  deliver  the  republic,  at  random,  to  a  fac- 
tion, which  appeared  then  to  wish  to  substitute  a  name  for  the 
people  itself.  But  this  time  the  Assembly  yielded.  This  was 
one  of  its  rare  weaknesses,  during  that  long  and  stormy  ses- 
sion of  fifteen  months.  The  government,  deserted  by  the 
Assembly  in  that  energetic  defiance  which  it  cast  to  two  factions 
at  once,  deplored  it.  The  concession  of  the  Assembly  calmed 
only  for  a  day  the  exactions  and  turbulence  of  the  national 
workshops.     This  tu  oulence  only  changed  its  flag. 


55e^n^^i^Hl*'-m«r^ 


260  HISTORY    OF   THE 

Lamartine,  supported  by  M.  Trouve-Chauvel,  a  firm  spirit, 
and  by  Admiral  Casy,  a  brave  and  noble  soldier,  conjured  the 
government  to  resign  their  power,  and  to  restore  to  the  Assem- 
bly an  authority  henceforth  enfeebled,  since  it  was  broken  by 
themselves.  He  insisted  for  many  days.  He  only  consented  to 
remain  during  the  time  necessary  to  encounter  the  approach- 
mg  battle,  announced  by  the  national  workshops. 

Some  months  after,  the  temporary  banishment  which  La- 
martine demanded  to  keep  Louis  Napoleon  at  a  distance  from  the 
cradle  of  the  republic  was  changed,  in  an  election,  by  six  millions 
of  votes,  to  the  position  of  President  of  the  republic.  The 
forecast  of  Lamartine  appeared  fortunately  belied  by  the  re- 
publicanism of  this  first  magistrate.  Lamartine  congratulated 
himself  on  having  been  deceived  by  his  fears.  He  confessed 
that  the  people  were  more  confiding  and  more  wise  than  he. 

The  outrages  and  the  scandals  of  anarchy  were  multiplied 
in  Paris.  The  government  resisted  them  only  with  the  arms 
of  persuasion,  of  vigilance,  of  the  police  and  the  National 
Guards.  The  old  repressive  laws  had  been  oroken,  and  the 
laws  of  republican  order  had  not  been  enacted.  Lamartine 
was  convinced  that  the  scandals  of  the  clubs,  of  journalism,  and 
the  public  square,  were  the  most  effective  arms  to  be  left  with 
the  enemies  of  the  republic.  France  is  a  country  of  decency. 
Scandal  humiliates  her,  and  that  which  humiliates  disaffects 
her.  He  thought  that  the  republic  could  only  be  made  legiti- 
mate by  order  promptly  reestablished  and  inflexibly  main- 
tained. It  was  necessary,  above  all,  to  reassure  the  imagination 
of  France. 

Full  of  these  ideas,  he  proposed  to  the  council  either  its 
resignation,  or  the  adoption  of  a  series  of  temporary  decrees, 
called  by  him  republican  decrees  of  transition,  and  destined  to 
provide  for  the  imperious  wants  of  the  security  of  minds,  disci- 
pline, an  armed  force,  and  order,  during  the  foundation  of  a 
new  institution,  always  troubled,  especially  when  this  institu- 
tion is  popular. 

"  The  aspect  of  the  republic,  for  some  days,  has  grieved  me," 
said  he  to  his  colleagues.  "  I  do  not  wish  to  take  upon  my 
name  the  responsibility  of  a  position  of  weakness,  and  of  disarm- 
ing society,  which  may  degenerate  into  anarchy.  I  demand 
two  things  :  laws  of  public  security  respecting  the  rioters,  the 
clubs,  the  abuses  of  complaint  in  anarchical  journals,  the  power 
of  banishing  from  Paris  to  their  communes  the  agitators  con- 
victed of  public  sedition,  and  lastly  a  camp  of  twenty  thousand 


REVOLUTION   OF    1S43.  261 

men,  under  the  walls  of  Paris,  to  assist  the  army  of  Paris  and 
the  National  Guard  in  the  certain  and  imminent  campaign 
which  we  would  inevitably  have  to  make  against  the  national 
workshops,  and  against  the  more  guilty  factions  which  might 
arise  and  become  masters  of  this  army  of  all  the  seditions.  On 
no  other  conditions  will  I  remain  in  the  government." 

"Neither  will  we,"  unanimously  exclaimed  his  col- 
leagues. M.  Marie,  assiduous,  indefatigable,  energetic,  was 
charged  with  drafting  the  outline  of  the  decree.  General 
Cavaignac  was  requested  to  combine  the  movements  of  his 
troops  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  able  to  cause  the  auxiliary 
divisions  of  the  army  of  the  Alps  to  fall  back  on  Paris  at  the 
first  order. 

This  general  and  Lamartine  held  frequent  conversations  re- 
specting the  military  measures  to  be  taken  in  order  to  avert  or 
to  surmount  the  increasing  dangers  of  the  republic.  Few  days 
passed  by  on  which  Lamartine  was  not  informed  of  the  precise 
number  and  line  of  march  of  the  troops,  who,  according  to  the 
orders  of  the  government,  occupied  the  barracks  or  cantonments 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Paris  ;  of  the  number  of  hours  that  would 
be  required  for  the  army  to  be  on  foot,  and  collected  at  suitable 
posts ;  and,  in  fine,  of  the  system  of  defence  which  the  general 
proposed  to  adopt,  in  case  of  a  conflict  in  the  capital. 

Lamartine,  instructed  by  the  fall  of  all  preceding  govern- 
ments, which  had  perished  from  having  dispersed  their  bat- 
talions over  all  the  points  of  Paris,  and  by  having  fought  with 
portions  of  the  army  against  the  masses,  was  convinced  that  a 
combat,  in  a  capital  of  fifteen  hundred  thousand  souls,  should 
be  a  battle,  conformed  in  every  respect  to  the  theory  of  pitched 
battles  in  a  regular  campaign,  only  upon  a  ground  less  care- 
fully selected.  He  thought,  then,  that  the  army  should  have  a 
base  of  operations,  a  fixed  centre  and  wings  ;  that  each  corps 
of  operation  should  be  able  to  radiate  from  this  base,  or  fall 
back  upon  this  centre,  without  ever  being  cut  off',  from  its  re- 
serve. He  had,  for  the  last  three  months,  closely  interrogated, 
respecting  their  opinion  in  regard  to  this,  all  the  generals  who 
would  eventually  have  any  force  to  manoeuvre  in  Paris,  Ne- 
grier,  Bedeau,  Oudinot  and  Cavaignac.  He  fortunately  found 
that  they  all  agreed  with  his  opinion.  He  then  supported 
General  Cavaignac  in  the  adoption  of  this  system,  against  the 
contrary  system,  supported  by  those  who  wished  to  consider 
an  insurrection  as  a  sedition,  and  to  strike  it  at  every  point, 
under  pain  of  suppressing  it  in  none. 


262  HISTORY    OF   THE 

"  Do  not  deceive  yourselves,"  said  he  to  them  ;  "  we  do  not 
march  against  a  sedition,  but  to  a  battle,  ■ — not  to  a  battle,  but 
to  a  campaign  against  powerful  factions.  If  the  republic  wishes 
to  save  itself,  and  to  save  society  with  it,  it  must  be  armed 
during  the  first  years  of  its  establishment ;  and  it  must  dispose 
its  troops,  not  only  here,  but  over  the  surface  of  the  empire,  in 
the  prospect  of  civil  wars,  which  embrace  not  only  the  quarters 
of  Paris,  but  the  provinces,  as  in  the  days  of  Caesar  and  Pom- 

pey-"  .  .        ,        ^    . 

He   very  frequently   questioned,    respectmg    the    effective 

force  of  Paris,  the  under-secretary  of  war,  Charras,  and  the 
general  of  division,  Foucher,  The.T  replies  appeared  to  him 
fully  reassuring.  Calumny  has  accused  the  government  of 
negligence  at  this  epoch.  These  officers  and  generals  could,  on 
the  contrary,  accuse  the  excessive  caution  of  Lamartine.  He 
had,  since  the  opening  of  the  Assembly,  but  one  thought,  —  to 
dissolve,  if  it  was  possible,  then  to  vanquish,  if  it  was  neces- 
sary, the  insurrection  of  the  national  workshops.  In  order  that 
the  victory  might  be  prompt,  decisive,  crushing,  and  conse- 
quently less  sanguinary,  it  was  necessary  to  overawe  the  mass 
of  the  insurgents  by  the  mass  of  bayonets. 

XVI. 

All  the  symptoms  foretold  a  movement.  It  broke  out  on  the 
twenty-second  of  June,  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening.  The 
government,  informed  of  the  riots  and  outcry  which  its  first 
measures  to  distribute  a  portion  of  the  workmen  over  the  depart- 
ments had  excited,  assembled  at  the  Luxembourg.  Numerous 
and  furious  bands  had  already  many  times  during  the  evening 
assailed  the  palace,  with  cries  of,  "  A  has  Marie  !  A  has  La- 
marline  ! "  These  two  members  of  the  government  were  con- 
sidered the  most  decided  to  dissolve  this  army  of  sedition. 
General  Cavaignac  received  the  general  command  of  the  troops 
and  the  National  Guards,  from  the  hands  of  the  government,  in 
order  to  concentrate  the  plan,  the  will,  and  the  unity  of  execu- 
tion, in  a  single  chief.  Clement  Thomas,  as  disinterested  as 
brave,  himself  acceded  to  this  unity.  He  only  reserved  to  him- 
self the  honor  of  obedience,  of  self-denial,  and  danger. 

The  night  was  calm ;  it  passed  away  in  the  preparation  for 
defence  and  attack.  Neither  the  socialist  nor  the  ultra-repub- 
lican party  participated,  by  their  chiefs,  nor  even  by  their  prin- 
cipal sectaries,  in  the  insurrection.     These  men,  at  that  time, 


REVOLUTION    OF    1848.  263 

either  formed  part  of  the  government,  or  served  it  from  convic- 
tion and  hope.  Everything  indicated  that  this  movement, 
undecided,  feeble  and  incoherent  in  its  principle,  was  only 
organized,  paid,  and  accomplished,  in  the  bosom  of  the  national 
workshops  themselves ;  —  a  movement  of  the  mob,  and  not  of 
the  people  ;  a  conspiracy  of  subalterns,  and  not  of  leaders  ;  an 
explosion  of  ser\-ile,  but  not  of  civil  war.  Lamartine,  by  estab- 
lishing the  harmony  of  the  republicans  in  the  council,  had  pru- 
dently drawn  the  political  electricity  from  this  anti-social  cloud. 
The  body  was  there  —  the  soul  was  wanting.  Behold  why  it 
miscarried,  —  but  it  miscarried  with  too  much  blood. 

XVII. 

At  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  twenty-third  of  June, 
the  government  was  informed  that  collections  of  from  eight  to 
ten  thousand  men  were  forming  upon  the  place  de  Pantheon, 
to  attack  the  Luxembourg.  They  caused  these  bodies  to  be 
attacked  by  some  battalions  of  the  eleventh  legion,  whose 
colonel  was  M.  Quinet,  and  by  the  battalions  of  the  line.  M. 
Arago,  known  in  the  quarter,  wished  to  present  himself  in  per- 
son on  the  square,  already  barricaded.  He  harangued  the  j 
insurgents,  wavering  between  their  respect  for  him  and  their 
fury  against  the  government.  At  ten  o'clock,  the  rioters  were 
dispersed,  carrj-ing  with  them  the  famished  masses  of  the  twelfth 
arrondissement.  They  dispersed,  crying.  To  arms  !  through  the 
quarters  lying  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  through  the  faubourg 
Saint  Antoine,  and  over  the  boulevards. 

At  their  appearance  and  their  cries,  the  faubourgs  are  roused, 
the  streets  are  filled ;  the  men  of  the  national  workshops  descend 
from  the  barriers ;  the  populace,  incited  by  some  anued  leaders, 
erect  the  barricades.  These  chiefs  were,  in  general,  brigadiers 
of  the  national  workshops,  agents  of  sedition  and  the  clubs, 
irritated  at  the  disbanding  of  their  corps,  whose  Avages,  passing 
through  their  hands,  and  turned  aside,  it  is  said,  for  this  pur- 
pose, by  some  of  them,  paid  the  revolt.  From  the  barriers  of 
Charenton,  of  Bercy,  of  Fontainebleau,  and  Menilmontant,  to 
the  heart  of  Paris,  almost  the  whole  capital  was  disarmed,  and 
in  the  power  of  a  few  thousand  men.  The  drum  called  to  arms 
a  National  Guard  of  two  hundred  thousand  men,  ten  times 
enough  to  restrain  these  clusters  of  insurgents,  and  to  raze  their 
fortifications  to  the  ground.  But  we  must  say,  to  the  disgrace 
of  this  day,  and  for  the  instruction  of  the  future,  the  National 


264  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Guards  did  not  reply,  at  first,  in  mass  sufficiently  decisive,  to 
the  call  of  government.  Their  delay,  their  faintheartedness, 
their  inactivity,  in  some  quarters,  left  the  streets  to  the  sedition. 
They  saw  erected,  with  an  unmoved  eye,  those  barricades  which 
they  would  have  to  reconquer  with  their  blood. 

The  government  had  left  the  Luxembourg,  to  draw  near  to 
the  National  Assembly  and  to  protect  it.  They  farmed  them- 
selves at  once  into  a  council  and  a  camp,  with  General  Cavaignac 
in  the  room  of  the  president  of  the  Assembly. 

XVIII. 

The  general  formed,  in  concert  with  the  government,  his  plan 
of  operation.  He  resolved  to  concentrate  his  troops,  as  had  been 
previously  agreed,  in  the  garden  of  the  Tuileries,  on  the  Champs- 
Elysees,  on  the  place  de  la  Concorde,  on  the  Esplanade  des 
Invalides,  and  round  the  palace  of  the  representatives.  He 
caused  the  Hotel  de  Ville  to  be  occupied  by  fifteen  or  sixteen 
battalions,  under  the  command  of  General  Duvivier,  maintain- 
ing their  communications  free  by  the  quays.  He  gave  to  the 
brave  General  Damesme,  whom  the  government  had  just 
appointed  commandant  of  the  Guard  Mobile,  the  command  of 
the  vast  and  populous  quarter  which  extends  from  the  Pantheon 
to  the  Seine.  General  Lamoriciere,  with  a  small  number  of 
battalions,  was  charged  with  defending  the  whole  left  bank  of 
the  Seine,  from  the  chateau  d'Eau  as  far  as  the  Madeleine,  —  an 
immense  surface,  which  would  have  demanded  an  army  for 
itself  alone. 


XIX. 

In  the  mean  while,  the  combat  was  just  engaged,  of  its  own 
accord,  upon  the  boulevards.  Two  detachments  of  intrepid 
volunteers  of  order,  of  the  first  and  second  legions,  assaulted 
two  barricades  advanced  to  that  point,  and  died  heroically  under 
their  feet,  at  the  first  discharge  of  the  insurgents. 

I  will  not  relate  the  different  combats  of  these  days,  during 
which  the  generals,  the  select  National  Guards,  the  soldiers, 
the  Mobile  Guards  especially,  the  representatives,  and  the 
Archbishop  of  Paris  himself,  shed  their  blood,  covered  their 
country  with  mourning,  and  their  names  with  glory ;  Negrier, 
Duvivier,  Lamoriciere,  Bedeau,  Brea,  Bix:o,  Domes,  Lafontaine, 
Lebreton,  Foucher,  Lefran^ois,  and  so  many  others,  marked 


REVOLUTIDN   OF    1648. 


265 


with  a  sfciin  of  their  generous  blood  the  pages  in  which  his- 
tory will  record  their  devotion.  I  shall  speak  only  of  what  I 
saw. 

From  noon  the  troops,  anticipated  so  far  beforehand,  and  called 
since  so  long  a  time,  appeared  to  be  wanting.  At  each  moment 
the  citizens,  the  mayors,  the  aides-de-camp,  and  the  representa- 
tives, ran  to  the  seat  of  government,  introduced  themselves  to  the 
presence  of  the  general,  and  implored  reinforcements  to  defend  or 
regain  the  different  quarters  which  thej^  represented.  The  gen- 
eral could  not  give  them  that  which  he  did  not  have.  Lamartine 
and  his  colleagues,  while  approving  the  great  prudence  of  the 
military  chief,  who  refused  to  disperse  his  battalions,  could 
not  help  perceiving  the  evident  insufficiency  of  the  troops. 
Where  were  the  twenty  thousand  men  in  the  barracks  of  Paris  ? 
the  fifteen  thousand  men  of  the  neighboring  garrisons  ?  the 
twenty  thousand  men  of  the  army  of  the  Alps,  solicited,  as  a 
reserve,  thirty  days  before,  by  Lamartine  ?  General  Cavaignac 
has  since  clearly  proved  that  the  mmiber  of  the  troops  of  the 
line  in  Paris  conformed  to  the  number  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernment; but  in  this  first  moment  of  confusion,  when  the 
exigences  of  war,  over  so  large  a  surface,  absorbed  and 
swallowed  up  the  battalions,  the  regiments  appeared  to  sink 
beneath  the  hand.  The  camp  near  Paris  was  not  even  under 
march  ;  the  neighboring  garrisons  could  not,  in  so  few  hours,  be 
at  the  barriers.  The  necessities,  foreseen  during  the  evening, 
had  not  appeared  sufficiently  grave  to  the  commandant-general 
for  him  to  have  j-et  summoned  the  soldiers  of  the  line  of 
Paris.  He  had  relied  upon  the  National  Guards,  whom  the 
incessant  beating  to  arms  had  not  succeeded  in  bringing  out  in 
mass  from  their  houses,  or  whom  the  seditioi  imprisoned  in 
their  quarters.  In  fine,  we  must  avow,  wheth  t  from  fatality 
or  slowness,  the  army  was  far  from  appearing  U  answer  by  its 
mass  to  the  imminence  and  universality  of  ih^  danger.  Its 
numerical  weakness  would  aggravate  this  danger. 

Duvivier  restrained  the  heart  of  Paris  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 
Damesme  and  Lamoriciere  seemed  to  multiply  themselves, 
and  displayed  prodigies  of  valor  and  activity  with  the  hand- 
ful of  soldiers  they  could  command.  At  four  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  Damesme  had  cleared  and  regained  all  the  left  bank 
of  the  Seine,  and  overawed  the  population,  rising  in  mass,  of 
the  quarter  of  the  Pantheon.  His  reports  to  the  government, 
arriving  from  hour  to  hour,  answered  for  the  night  and  the 


mornmg. 

VOL.  II. 


23 


266  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Lamoriciere,  invincible,  though  surrounded  by  two  hundred 
thousand  men,  occupied  the  whole  surface  which  extends  from 
the  rue  du  Temple  to  the  Madeleine,  and  from  Clichy  to  the 
Louvre.  Constantly  on  horseback,  flying  in  person  at  the  first 
shot,  two  horses  already  killed  under  him,  his  face  blackened 
with  powder,  his  forehead  streaming  with  sweat,  his  voice 
hoarse  with  giving  orders,  his  eye  proud  and  serene,  the  eye 
of  a  soldier  who  breathes  in  the  midst  of  his  native  element, 
he  restored  enthusiasm  to  his  soldiers,  and  confidence  to  the 
dismayed  National  Guards.  His  reports  breathed  the  intre- 
pidity of  his  soul ;  but  he  did  not  dissemble  his  insufiiciency  of 
troops,  the  vast  number  of  assailants,  the  lengthening  of  barri- 
cades between  the  BastiUe  and  the  chateau  d'Eau,  between 
the  barriers  and  the  boulevards.  He  called  for  reinforcements, 
which  the  government  incessantly  summoned  by  the  telegraph, 
and  by  officers  of  the  staff".  The  National  Guards  of  the  Ban- 
lieue  began  to  arrive  by  detachments  ;  at  the  order  of  the  gen- 
erals, they  formed  in  lines  around  the  Assembly,  and  united 
with  the  National  Guards,  to  whom  they  set  the  example. 
From  the  moment  that  the  goverrmient  saw  these  National 
Guards  from  the  country  round  about  Paris,  it  had  the  feeling 
of  victory  amidst  even  the  agonies  of  the  combat. 

XX. 

General  Cavaignac  appeared  to  be  made  easy  with  reference 
to  the  final  issue  of  the  event,  as  he  read  the  latest  reports 
brought  by  his  aides-de-camp.  The  insurrection  was  checked 
or  repressed,  with  the  exception  of  the  faubourg  du  Temple, 
the  faubourg  k^aint-Antoine,  and  the  extensive  quarters  adja- 
cent, the  centre  of  a  dense  population,  turbulent  before,  and 
now  convulse'i' .  The  soldiers,  who  had  fought  from  morning, 
were  fatigue'^  Night  would  bring  the  reinforcements  sum- 
moned  by  the  government.  "  It  is  enough  for  to-day,"  said  he 
to  the  council ;  "  the  soldiers  must  be  allowed  repose  ;  our  po- 
sitions must  be  guarded ;  our  forces  recruited ;  to-morrow  we 
will  deliver  the  part  of  the  left  bank  which  still  resists."  This 
advice  had  plausible  motives  ;  the  troops  were  few,  decimated, 
enfeebled  ;  but  if  the  night  was  to  bring  defenders,  it  was  also 
to  draw  all  the  populous  quarters  into  the  sedition,  to  multiply 
barricades,  to  change  them  into  fortresses,  and  to  necessitate 
waves  of  blood  on  the  part  of  the  National  Guards  and  the 
army,  in  order  to  regain  them.     Lamartine  observed  this  to  the 


REVOLUTION    OF    1348.  267 

general  and  to  the  council :  "We  have  four  hours  of  daylight 
yet,"  said  he,  "  and  the  whole  of  a  long  night ;  let  us  not  leave 
them  to  the  insurrection.  Let  us  anticipate  it,  stifle  it,  confine 
it,  at  least,  as  narrowly  as  possible,  before  dark  ;  if  the  troops 
fail  us,  let  us,  by  our  own  example,  rouse  the  National  Guard, 
which  wavers  and  lags ;  let  us  form  with  a  few  battalions, 
grouped  around  the  Assembly,  a  last  column  of  attack,  and 
lead  it  ourselves  to  the  assault  of  the  barricades  of  the  fau- 
bourg du  Temple,  the  strongest  and  most  decisive  position  of 
the  insurgents." 

General  Cavaignac  vigorously  took  up  with  this  opinion. 
He  gave  orders,  and  rose  to  assemble  and  lead  himself  the 
main  body  of  the  column.  Lamartine  sent  for  his  horses, 
saddled  and  bridled,  since  morning,  for  the  contingencies  of  the 
day.  He  mounted  one,  and  gave  the  other  to  Pierre  Bona- 
parte, an  intrepid  young  man,  son  of  Lucien,  heir  to  the  repub- 
licanism of  his  father.  The  minister  of  finances,  Duclerc,  as 
calm  under  fire  as  he  was  impetuous  in  the  council,  wished  to 
join  them.  Lamartine  and  his  friends,  among  whom  were  a  Na- 
tional Guard  of  the  tenth  legion,  an  old  soldier  named  Blanc, 
whom  he  found  at  his  side  on  all  occasions  of  peril,  as  well  as  the 
adventurous  Chateau-Renard,  took  their  places  in  the  ranks  of 
the  foremost  platoons  of  the  Guard  Mobile,  and  marched  through 
the  place  de  la  Concorde  and  the  rue  de  la  Paix,  swelling  their 
numbers  on  the  route.  General  Cavaignac,  with  the  main  body 
of  the  column,  rejoined  them  at  the  entrance  on  the  boulevards. 
M.  de  Treveneuc,  the  Briton  representative,  on  horseback  and 
armed,  requested  of  Lamartine  pennission  to  accompany  him. 
The  countenance  of  this  stranger,  at  that  time,  to  the  member 
of  government,  breathed  patriotism  and  war.  A  summer  storm 
at  this  moment  burst  upon  Paris.  General  Cavaignac,  sur- 
rounded by  his  staff,  Lamartine,  Duclerc,  Pierre  Bonaparte, 
followed  by  about  two  thousand  men,  advanced  amidst  flashes 
of  lightning,  the  roar  of  thunder,  and  the  applause  of  good 
citizens,  as  far  as  the  chateau  d'Eau.  While  the  minister 
sent  for  cannon,  and  was  forming  his  column  intrusted  to  Gen- 
eral Foiacher,  commandant  of  Paris,  Lamartine  went  to  review 
the  artillery  of  the  National  Guard  at  the  Temple.  These 
brave  citizens  were  a  mere  handful  of  men,  overwhelmed  in  a 
population  undecided  between  the  sedition  and  the  republic. 
The  name  of  Lamartine,  his  presence,  his  gestures,  scarcely 
restrained  it.  It  surrounded  him,  and  followed  him  with  its 
shouts  and  its  crowd  as  far  as  the  boulevard.  The  column  was 
formed,  and  received  the  order  to  charge. 


268  HISTORY   OF   THE 

Lamartine  and  his  friends  rushed  for\vard  witn  the  battalions 
of  the  Guard  Mobile  and  of  the  line,  amidst  shouts  of  "  Vive 
la  RepuMique ! "  These  young  soldiers  seemed  raised  from 
the  ground  by  the  spirit  of  Austerlitz.  After  three  quarters  of 
an  hour  of  repeated  assaults,  and  under  a  hail  of  bullets  and 
balls,  which  decimated  the  generals,  the  officers,  and  the  sol- 
diers, these  fortifications  were  carried.  Lamartine  desired  for 
death,  to  free  him  from  the  odious  responsibility  of  blood  which 
Avould  weigh  so  unjustly  but  inevitably  upon  him.  Thrice  he 
leaped  from  his  horse,  to  go  on  foot  to  the  barricade,  and  seek 
to  fall  a  victim  among  the  foremost  ranks  of  these  generous 
soldiers.  Thrice  the  guards  of  the  Assembly  threw  their  arms 
around  him,  and  held  him  back  by  force.  His  horse,  ridden 
by  Pierre  Bonaparte,  was  killed  at  his  side  ;  his  own  was 
Avounded.  Cannon  of  the  largest  calibre,  sent  by  General 
Cavaignac,  demolished  the  last  fortification  of  the  insurgents 
at  this  point.  Four  hundred  brave  men,  killed  or  mutilated, 
strewed  the  faubourg.  Lamartine  returned  to  the  chateau 
d'Eau,  to  rejoin  General  Cavaignac. 

Accompanied  by  Duclerc,  and  a  National  Guardsman  named 
Laussant,  who  attached  himself  to  him  on  that  day,  he  crossed 
alone  the  line  of  outposts  to  reconnoitre  the  people  on  the 
boulevard  de  la  Bastille.  An  immense  crowd  of  people  again 
opened  at  his  name,  and  received  him  with  their  acclamations, 
their  enthusiasm,  and  their  cries.  He  conversed  a  long  time 
with  this  crowd,  pressing  through  them  at  a  slow  pace  by 
the  breast  of  his  horse.  His  confidence  in  the  midst  of  the 
insurgent  masses  alone  preserved  him  from  their  anger.  These 
men,  whose  paleness,  feverish  tone,  and  even  tears,  attested 
their  emotion,  told  him  of  their  grievances,  which  they  attrib- 
uted to  the  Assembly ;  of  their  grief  at  seeing  the  revolution 
stain  itself  with  blood  ;  their  willingness  to  obey  him,  —  him, 
whom  they  knew  as  their  counsellor  and  friend,  not  as  their 
enemy  ;  and  of  their  misery,  their  hunger,  and  the  destitution 
of  their  wives  and  children.  "  We  are  not  bad  citizens, 
Lamartine,"  they  said  ;  "  we  are  not  assassins,  we  are  not  fac- 
tious. We  are  unfortunate  ;  we  are  only  honest  worlanen, 
who  ask  to  have  thought  taken  for  us,  our  toil,  and  our 
miseries.  Govern  us  yourself!  save  us!  command  us  !  We 
love  you,  —  we  know  you.     We  will  disarm  our  brethren." 

While  speaking  thus,  these  men,  emaciated  by  a  three 
months'  agitation  and  want  of  work,  touched  the  clothes  and 
hands  of  Lamartine.     Some  of  them  ran  to  plunder  the  stalls 


REVOLUTION   OF    1618.  269 

of  the  flower-dealers,  and  throw  flowers  on  his  horse's  mane. 
At  intervals  only,  a  conspirator,  with  a  forbidding  face,  passed 
over  the  side-walks,  and  uttered  the  war-cry,  stifltid  by  the  more 
numerous  shouts  of  "  Vive  LamartiTie  .'" 

Such  was  the  aspect  of  the  people,  who,  for  want  of  troops 
to  occupy  these  quarters,  were  about  to  be  thrown  completely 
into  insurrection. 

XXI. 

Lamartine  returned,  without  having  been  either  attacked  or 
insulted,  to  join  the  general  on  the  boulevard.  He  told  him 
the  state  of  the  popular  mind.  He  had  an  understanding  with 
him,  while  still  moving  on,  with  respect  to  pressing  orders  to  be 
given  to  the  troops  out  of  Paris,  to  summon  them  in  a  body, 
and  immediately,  over  all  the  routes.  He  left  the  general  at 
the  porte  Saint-Martin  to  dispose  his  defence,  and  returned  to 
communicate  his  concerted  orders  to  the  ministry  of  war  and 
10  the  council. 

It  was  night.  The  firing  had  everywhere  ceased.  During 
the  absence  of  Lamartine,  his  colleagues,  Arago,  Gamier 
Pages,  Marie,  Pagnerre,  were  gone  to  visit  the  mayoralties, 
and  to  animate  the  National  Guards  by  their  example  and  their 
exhortations.  Ledru  EoUin  had  remained  at  the  presidency 
for  the  despatch  of  orders  of  urgency,  and  to  watch  against  the 
possible  dangers  of  the  Assembly. 

At  midnight,  the  nearest  regiments  and  the  National  Guards 
of  the  neighboring  tOAvns  entered  in  masses  by  all  the  barriers. 
The  victory  might  yet  be  slow,  but  henceforth  it  was  assured. 

XXU. 

The  confidence,  however,  which  had  returned  to  the  spirit 
of  the  government,  had  not  returned  to  the  National  Assembly. 
A  suspicious  party  wished  to  profit  by  this  crisis  to  over- 
throw the  executive  committee,  which  it  continued  groundlessly 
to  distrust.  The  next  day,  at  eight  o'clock,  a  certain  num- 
oer  of  representatives  forced  the  door  of  the  council,  and 
officiously  solicited  the  members  of  the  government  to  resign. 
The  members  of  the  government  unanimously  had  long  since 
desired  only  to  leave  a  situation  in  which  devotion  alone  retained 
them,  entirely  against  their  convenience  and  their  ambition. 
Nevertheless,  they  were  unwilling  to  retire  in  the  midst  of  a 
VOL  II.  23* 


270  HISTORY   OF   THE   RE  VOLUTION   OF   1848. 

tempest,  or  to  quit  the  field  of  battle  like  cowards  who  abandon 
power  during  the  conflict.  Lamartine,  Gamier  Pages,  and 
Barthelemy  Saint-Hilaire,  revolted  with  energy  against  this 
insinuation : 

"  The  Assembly  may  dismiss  and  replace  us,"  said  they ; 
"  we  will  obey  like  good  citizens.  The  dismissal  will  be  a 
command.  But  our  voluntary  retirement  at  such  a  moment 
would  be  a  dishonor  ! " 

At  ten  o'clock,  the  Assembly,  in  permanent  session,  conferred 
complete  civil  authority  upon  General  Cavaignac,  to  whom  they 
had  themselves,  the  evening  before,  intrusted  complete  military- 
authority.  Lamartine  wrote,  in  the  name  of  his  colleagues,  the 
following  letter  to  the  Assembly. 

"  Citizen-Representatives,  — 

"  The  committee  of  the  executive  power  would  have  failed 
at  once  to  its  duties  and  its  honor  in  retiring  before  a  sedition, 
and  before  a  public  peril.  It  retires  only  before  a  vote  of  the 
Assembly.  In  returning  to  you  the  powers  with  which  you 
had  invested  us,  it  reenters  the  ranks  of  the  National  Assem- 
bly, to  devote  itself,  with  you,  to  the  common  danger,  and  to 
the  safety  of  the  republic." 


Such  is  the  recital  of  the  principal  events  in  which  I  par- 
ticipated, during  the  first  two  periods  of  the  revolution  of 
1848,  and  of  the  establishment  of  republican  institutions  in 
France.  The  destinies  of  the  repviblic  have  since  passed  into 
other  hands.  It  is  for  the  future  to  award  according  to 
deeds.  Great  services  have  been  rendered,  faults  have  been 
committed.  I  pray  God,  my  contemporaries,  and  posterity,  to 
pardon  me  for  mine.  May  Providence  supply  for  the  errors 
and  the  weaknesses  of  men !  Republics  appear  to  be  more 
directly  governed  by  Providence,  because  in  them  no  hand  is 
seen  intervening  between  the  people  and  its  destiny.  May 
the  unseen  hand  protect  France  !  May  it  sustain  her  at  once 
against  impatience  and  discouragement,  that  double  quicksand 
for  the  character  of  our  race  !  May  it  preserve  the  republic 
against  those  tvo  quicksands  —  war  and  the  sway  of  dema- 
gogues !  And,  from  a  conservative  and  progressive  republic,  — 
the  only  one  durable,  the  only  one  possible,  —  may  it  cause  to 
bloom  forth  what  is  germinant  in  this  kind  of  institution  — 
the  morality  of  the  people  and  the  reign  of  God. 


.; 


H. 


..^■. 


